Element: Fire
by Bista
Summary: Element Users come around every 100 years and their powers take full effect when they turn 15. They are feared, and the Rookie 9 turn 15 the same year as the Element User hiding somewhere in Konoha. So what's Sasuke hiding so carefully from the others...?
1. Intoduction

April 10, 2008 - Well, I cracked. I decided to revise this story even though I should _really_ be thinking about working on my in-progress one instead of this completed one. In fact, I revised the next chapter before I remembered there was an introduction. Stupid me.

ANYWAY, this introduction chapter used to be exactly 2 paragraphs long. Don't you love how I managed to stretch it out this long? Now it's, like... 7 paragraphs long! Which is pretty good for a prolouge chapter if you ask me.

... I don't feel like writing out everything I did yesterday again, so I'm gunna shut up now.

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**Introduction**

Three months. It had officially been three months since Sasuke had returned to Konoha. The first week his return had been dedicated to interrogation about Orochimaru. Sasuke had remained silent, and after a while they had given up. The only information he would give was that the snake was dead, as was his brother. Tsunade accepted that and life moved on.

Naruto was, of course, ecstatic about his return, closely followed by Sakura and Kakashi, though the latter of the two didn't show it. To avoid further strains brought on by Naruto, Tsunade went to the trouble of reinstating Sasuke as soon as possible, effectively bringing the original 'Team Seven' back together.

At first, things were a bit rough. Most of the villagers had heard of the Uchiha's defection, and weren't exactly ready to welcome him back with open arms. After the first month officially went by, the tensions became easing themselves out, and Sasuke's acceptance back into the Konoha Nine plus Team Gai loosened them even more. And by the end of his second month back, it was safe to assume that all had returned to normal.

In fact, if Kakashi closed his eyes and imagined that Orochimaru hadn't cursed Sasuke, that Sasuke hadn't left, that Naruto hadn't spend almost three years searching for him; if he pretended all of that never happened, he could honestly say that nothing had changed. Naruto was back to yelling about something or other that Sasuke had or hadn't done, Sasuke wouldn't answer or would retort with a comment on the blonde's intelligence or lack thereof. Sakura didn't flaunt over him as she did back in the day, but despite the very small differences, everything was exactly perfect.

But then he'd remember that it all really did happen. Orochimaru had placed the cursed seal upon Sasuke, which had driven him out of the village to take up an apprenticeship with the snake, leaving his team in Konoha to go on several wild goose chases to find him, all of which proved futile. Just as the third year mark passed, the Uchiha had suddenly turned up on the gates on Konoha, asking if it would be okay if he came back now. Kakashi had never known a more random day.

But putting that all aside, he was happy to have his old team back, the first he had been able to have pass his teamwork test. But one could not overlook the fact that Sasuke had been with an S-rank criminal for the past three years. Who knew what kind of techniques he had learnt over the years?

Naruto didn't care. Neither did Sakura. And the others followed suit. All would have gone on as it had been if it wasn't for the unexpected events that would transpire in the year of their fifteenth birthdays. That was the year that started everything, and ended it just the same…

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Don't you love that saying?! "... or lack thereof" it sounds so cool! It has been my lifelong dream to use that in a sentence and have it actually make sense. I feel so proud of myself! What's my reward?!

Sasuke: uhh... the knowledge of knowing you did it?

Me: good enough! Knowledge is brain food right?

Naruto: I thought brain food was fish?

Me: ... no.


	2. The Mysterious Meeting

April 09, 2008 - Hello there! Even though I posted this story some 2 years ago, I suddenly decided I didn't like the writing style of the first few chapters, and that turned into revising the entire thing. Fun isn't it?

Ya know, _originally_ I didn't actually have any author's notes here. Honestly, I didn't know how. 0.o I'll keep my old notes where they pop up though... which starts in chapter 5 or somethin'.

So enjoy my revised version of this chapter! I'll revise the others when I feel like it... the plot line's the same, just the writing style...

**Disclaimer** - Me: Do I _have_ to say it?

Everyone: Yes

Me: ... fine! I don't own Naruto. Happy now?

Everyone: kinda.

**

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**

Chapter 1 and/or 2

**A Mysterious Meeting**

Escorting missions seemed like the most boring type of mission Naruto had ever been on. Sure, there were missions like gardening, or walking dogs, but the Hokage had been careful not to give him missions like that. She didn't exactly want a headache, or an imploded eardrum for that matter, from Naruto. Still, it was only the escort missions that she allowed Naruto's team to take on. Wouldn't tell them why. Sakura figured she just needed _someone_ to dump them all on.

Currently, they were escorting Kanokori Kaori back to her home in the Lightning country. No one had told Naruto how long it took to get there however, and boredom was starting to kick in.

"I'm bored," he stated in a melancholy tone. "How much further?"

"Another day of walking and we should get there," Kakashi told him for at least the tenth time that day. "Then we have another four days to get back."

"Would you mind telling us why you need an escort Kanokori-san?" Sakura asked politely.

Said adult smiled. "My clan is rather powerful in the Lightning Country," she explained happily. "There are at least one or two gangs out there that would gladly hold me for ransom, if you know what I mean."

Sasuke nodded subconsciously, not really paying attention to the conversation. His mind was set on one thing: to finish the mission without drawing attention to himself. He had other plans during this mission, none that he needed Kakashi snooping on. Which was kind of unavoidable considering he was still under suspicion since returning.

That night, the group camped outside a cave Naruto had stumbled upon when trying to find a short cut to the village, tired as he was of walking. With Sasuke taking the first watch of the night, the group was sleeping soundly; all except Naruto that is. He couldn't sleep knowing there was a whole other day of walking and there could be a secret passage that no one was telling him about. It wasn't like he'd go looking for it though; he just kind of wanted to yell at them for hiding it from him.

He was about to try engaging Sasuke in conversation (which was a lost cause even as he thought about it) when he opened his eyes to see Sasuke walking away. As quietly as he could and without making too much sound, he got up and followed the other boy, using all of his tricks to keep his presence unknown to him.

Sasuke walked a bit further into the forest, just out of earshot of the group when he came to a circular clearing void of trees. With his eyes expressionless, the raven haired boy looked up into the sky, judging his time by the movement of the stars. To Naruto however, it just looked like he was stargazing.

"_Maybe he knows I'm here and is stalling until I leave…"_ the blonde thought madly, watching from behind a nearby tree. _"Still, why _stargazing_ of all things?!_"

"You know I can't stay here all night," Sasuke suddenly spoke up, making Naruto jump. "Come out and say what you want, Kohaku."

A white blur sped past Sasuke and stopped just behind him, the leaves around them barely rustling. On a closer inspection, the blur was a boy, just a tad bit taller than Sasuke. Clad in a white cloak, white hair and a miniature snowy polar bear resting on his shoulder, he truly was a white blob in the forest. Obviously he had missed the camouflage class in his school, as had most of the girls in Konoha, unfortunately.

The boy, Kohaku, turned around the face Sasuke, grinning and apologizing. And although a smile played upon his face, Naruto couldn't help but notice that he boy's eyes were white as well; white with the Byakugan, marking him as a Hyuuga of sorts. When he was done apologizing, he took out a red, circular medallion from within his cloak and handed it to Sasuke.

"Orders straight from Lady Aboshi," he said sternly, his eyes loosing their previous mirth. "We're all supposed to wear these. Apparently they hide the 'mark'."

Sasuke took the medallion and put it around his neck wordlessly, lingering only to look at the symbol embedded in the centre in orange. Then he tucked it in his shirt, the red momentarily clashing with the blue. For that split second, Naruto caught a glimpse of the design, but it was gone before his mind could register it completely.

"So it's started already then?" Sasuke asked calmly, looking at the bear on the other boy's shoulder.

Kohaku held up two fingers. "They shouldn't officially start to panic for another two weeks, but Imara heard the Tsuchikage planning a search-and-destroy mission. He doesn't know what they're searching and destroying, but it's enough to start taking precautions. Lady Aboshi isn't taking any chances this time 'round."

Sasuke nodded slightly and Kohaku walked up next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"When it begins in your village, don't trust anyone. Not even that '_team' _of yours."

And then he was gone, a flurry of snowflakes settling softly to the ground in his place. Sasuke stayed a few more minutes before heading back to the cave, Naruto dashing quickly to get back before him. By the time the raven haired teen returned Naruto was back in his sleeping bag, pretending to sleep. Only when he was sitting down did the blonde start to go over the events carefully in his head.

Even though Sasuke was on watch, he left his post to meet up with a mysterious boy in the middle of the woods. The boy knew how to contact Sasuke without going through the Hokage for his address or anything, even though he didn't have any visible forehead protector. The sound? Nah, the sound's formal ninja wear was purple and black, not white. Anything but white.

"_Seriously, what kind of _idiot_ goes around the forest in _white?" he silently thought to himself, turning over as naturally as possible.

Naruto soon fell asleep in the confusion of his own mind, his thoughts swirling from one possibility to another. He continued his thoughts after Sakura woke him up for his turn at watch. If only he could remember where he'd seen the character on the medallion before, he might be able to finish the puzzle that Sasuke had left for him. Only then could he figure out the meaning of that mysterious meeting.


	3. The Fake

Chapter 2:

A Fake

The mission complete, squad seven left the Lightning Country and headed back to Konoha. Sasuke acted just like he had when they were going to Kumo, and Naruto began to try to attack him to slice his shirt. Only then could he confront him and force him into telling him what happened that night.

His first attempt was pretty stupid. Kakashi was a few steps ahead of the three fourteen-year-olds. Sasuke had his hands in his pockets, as usual, and Sakura was between the two. Naruto took out his kunai and swiped and Sasuke, who jumped back before the blade was even fully taken out. Naruto stumbled, and slashed Sakura's leg by accident. She screamed, and sent Naruto flying 10 metres in front of her. Kakashi looked behind him at Sakura, who was fuming with rage and healing herself at the same time, then in front of him, to where Naruto was face-first in a pile of dirt, and behind him again, at Sasuke this time, who was standing perfectly balanced on a tree branch, his arms folded in front of him and looking down at the idiot who was eating dirt. Kakashi sighed, and continued walking, hoping the teamwork wasn't wavering too much.

After a few minutes, Naruto tried again. This time, he made sure that Sakura wasn't in the way. He ran at Sasuke with the Kyuubi's speed; however Sasuke was still able to jump out of the way, which sent Naruto running into a tree.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Sasuke asked in a smooth voice. To be honest, he already knew why Naruto was trying to hit him, but the blockhead didn't know that.

Naruto thought about it for a minute. He didn't know how he was going to answer. If he told him why, Sasuke would know that he was spying on him that night, however, he didn't know what he was going to say if he did lie.

"What does it look like?" he shouted at the teen who was hanging upside-down on a tree branch. It was a safe answer, as long as you weren't talking to Sasuke.

"What, trying to be an idiot? Because you're already good at that," he answered.

"Yeah! A bit too good if you ask me!" Sakura butt in. She was on the ground, rolling with laughter. Even Kakashi was holding back a snicker.

Naruto clenched his fists and kept walking, coming up with a different plan to get Sasuke to show the medallion to him.

That night, while Naruto was on watch duty, he woke up Sasuke, and asked him if he knew anyone named Kohaku.

"No," replied the sleepy teen. "Why do you ask?"

Naruto bit his lip. Sasuke sounded so sincere, not a trace of negativity in his voice. He sounded pretty sleepy for that matter too.

"Just wondering... Say, after you got rid of Orochimaru, did Oto just crumble, or did someone take over?"

"The feudal lord got some other guy to be the leader. Why are you asking so many questions?"

Now Naruto knew what was wrong. He took out his kunai and thrust it into Sasuke chest. Blood splattered everywhere as Sasuke cried out in pain, and then collapsed on the ground.

He lay there for a second or two before there was a poof of smoke. A person with blonde hair and sharp green eyes lay in the fake Sasuke's place. His eyes were full of wonder, and pain, but mostly of wonder.

"I thought you were a Gennin," he said in a croaky voice. "You shouldn't have been able to know it wasn't your friend."

"Ya, you're right, I didn't know you weren't Sasuke," Naruto explained, grinning. "But Sasuke never gets tired. He forces himself to go to sleep, so if I woke him up, he wouldn't be tired, like you."

The guy smiled, but quickly changed his expression to pain. Naruto pulled the kunai out of his chest and made a mental note to clean it later. That's when he realized it. He looked a lot like...

"Hey! You're Kanokori-san's brother, Koji-san!"

"Indeed I am," the member of the Unuki clan confirmed with a shudder of pain. "I was sent to spy on your village, Konoha. I'm sorry." And with that, he fell unconscious.

"Hey! Don't fall unconscious! I still need to ask you where Sasuke is!" Naruto yelled. His voice echoed in the cave, waking Sakura from her slumber, which is never a good idea.

"Would you shut up! I'm _trying_ to sleep here!" She screamed at Naruto. Then she saw Koji lying on the ground, a dark red stain slowly forming in the middle of his shirt. Her scream could probably be heard from Suna.

"You killed him! You idiot, you KILLED him! Now we have to run back to Konoha as fast as we can, and then a war will start between leaf and cloud, and then Konoha won't hold out forever, and we'll all be killed and it will be ALL YOUR FAULT Naruto!"

"He's not dead, Sakura! Really! He's just knocked out! Please don't hit... Ow!"

"Would you two stop yelling," Kakashi complained, choosing now to stop pretending he was sleeping.

He walked over to where Koji lay, knowing that his wound would completely heal if Sakura tended to him probably.

"If this is Koji-san, where's Sasuke?"


	4. Kora Who?

Chapter 3:

Kora Who?

After a few minutes, Sakura started to heal Koji's chest and Naruto went outside to look for Sasuke with Kakashi.

"Where could that guy have gone?" Naruto asked after a good ten minutes of searching. "That Koji-guy couldn't have knocked Sasuke out, even if he's a jounin."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Sasuke must have agreed to be gone or something like that. Or maybe..." He stopped to think about it, his eyes growing wider by the second.

"Or maybe... what?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Or maybe when we split up that afternoon, Koji-san had watched where Sasuke went and assumed that he wouldn't be back until later, or not at all," Kakashi finished.

Naruto thought about it for a second. That made sense, only why would Sasuke go somewhere that he knew he would return from for longer then expected? He remembered the mysterious meeting that Sasuke had with that white-haired boy. Maybe that had something to do with his disappearance. The question was, should he tell Kakashi or not?

"Umm, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto started, trying to pick his words carefully. "What if Sasuke was... meeting with someone?"

Kakashi looked at Naruto with sharp eyes, or in his case, _a_ sharp eye. "Why do you ask?"

Naruto was about to answer, but there was a rustling in the bushes in front of them.

Kakashi gave Naruto a signal to be as quiet as possible as he tip-toed over to the noise. Naruto nodded, as he went on the opposite side of his teacher. Kakashi held up three fingers, then two, then one.

Kakashi pounced on the bush, shortly followed by Naruto. As Kakashi landed on the bush, he heard a crunch beneath him, and a thud as Naruto landed on his head about one metre away from the target.

"Ow! Get off me you old man!" a muffled voice yelled.

Kakashi got up and found a small boy, probably younger then five years old, lying face down on the ground. Naruto got up from where he was and poked the child.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked, going back to his stupid self instead of the smart thinking self.

"I'm Unuki Tai," the little boy said, pointing to himself. "I was spying on niisan, but that guy that niisan changed into forced me out here, and you broke my nose!"

"You mean Sasuke?" Naruto asked. He looked in a full circle before asking: "Where is he now?"

The younger boy shook his head. "I thought he was right behind me."

"Why was he chasing you in the first place?" Kakashi asked, looking for all the details.

"He wasn't," Tai stated plainly. "I saw him talking to Kora, and then she came after me and I ran."

"You said Sasuke came after you," Naruto butt in.

"No. He pushed me, which made you guys find me."

"So he's here?" Kakashi inquired.

Tai nodded. "At least I think he's here."

Naruto stood up and walked over to a tree. He jumped up to the top of the tree and pouted. What was Sasuke doing with this 'Kora' girl?

"Hey, Tai! Who is this 'Kora' girl anyway?" Naruto shouted down to the man and the boy below him.

"She's a weirdo orphan girl that's always talking about this 'Imara' guy in the Hidden Stone Village," Tai shouted as loud as he little voice would go. "She has blonde hair, and green eyes, and she just turned fourteen, I think. She has mental problems, literally."

While Naruto pondered why a little five year old kid knew what mental problems were, Sakura came running from the cave, Koji right behind her.

"Otouto, I thought I told you not to follow me," Koji said as he picked up his younger brother and hugged him.

"I didn't!" The little boy said in his own defence.

Sakura looked around, probably making sure she knew the exact number of people that were in the area before she noticed Naruto in the tree.

"Naruto! Have you found Sasuke yet?" she shouted at him.

Naruto stared at her and stuck his tongue out. He still needed time to think. Sasuke had met with two people now: some weird white haired boy in a white cloak and now a mental blonde haired girl. The white haired boy had said something about this 'Imara' kid, so he probably had something to do with everything too.

"Idiot," came a familiar voice. Naruto looked over just in time to see Sasuke jump onto the tree next to him.

Sasuke put a finger to his lips and pointed down to the others below. Naruto nodded. He knew that whatever Sasuke was doing, it was a secret, and if it was a secret, he intended on keeping it.

"I know you saw me with Kohaku," Sasuke began in a soft tone. "And you know that I talked to Kora this afternoon, but I can't have you knowing all this."

Naruto blinked. How did Sasuke know all this?

"That's why," he continued. "I have to do this to you. I really am sorry."

Naruto blinked again. Sasuke was sorry about something? He would have to tell Sakura that Sasuke _could_ say sorry later. Before he knew what was happening, Sasuke leaned over and put a finger on the bridge of Naruto's nose. There was a flash of red, yellow, and orange and then Naruto was falling.


	5. Element Users

I've never had a chance to say anything yet, but I'm new to so I'm sorry. This fanfiction was intended on having Sasuke as the main character, but I messed up, so I'll try to get it straight again. Also, I'm still in grade school, so I don't really know when to put the paragraphs, or commas for that matter. I'll work hard to fix this 'glitch' in my writing. Other then that, enjoy this chapter, and the many that follow!

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Chapter 5:

Element Users

Sakura screamed as Naruto fell the frightening 50 metres that the tree stood. He was unconscious and had no way to protect himself. Kakashi was escorting Tai and Koji back to their house and Sakura knew that she couldn't catch him from that height. She ran around in circles, wondering what to do and panicking that Sasuke wasn't there.

"Sasuke! Naruto's going to die!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Naruto looked like a meteor about to crash into her.

Just as he was about to hit the ground, Sasuke jumped down to catch him. If he was going to alter Naruto's memory, he had to be the one to make sure he was okay. He carefully put the blonde on the ground and checked his pulse. It a bit fast, and a little bit hard, but other then that, it was fine. That meant it must've worked.

"Sasuke! Where have you been?" Sakura chirped, completely forgetting about Naruto.

Kakashi jumped into view and landed beside Sasuke. He hovered over, panting slightly, interested in where Sasuke had been as well. He needed to find the little bit of lying in his voice to find out what he really had been doing.

"I needed to find out more about the coming year," he answered plainly. "Kora is born on the 20th of December, so she must have heard something about the Element Users."

Kakashi's eyes (or eye in his case) widen. "You know about the Element Users? How?"

"The members of Uchiha use fire jutsu, so sometimes they were blamed as being an Element User."

"Hey, umm, what are Element Users?" Sakura asked hesitantly.

"Element Users are a group of people that are reincarnated every one-hundred years," Kakashi explained. "There's an Element User for the elements fire, water, earth, lightning, wind, leaf, mist, stone, cloud, sand, snow, and ice."

"It's said that they all live in different places, yet know each other as if they lived beside each other," Sasuke added. "Each Element User lives in the country that their element is."

"So, the Element User of wind would live in the Wind Country, right?" Sakura guessed. Kakashi nodded.

"Then, would the Element User of leaf live in the Hidden Leaf Village?" she asked, interested in the subject she had never heard of before.

Kakashi thought about it for a moment. "I don't think so," he said after a while. "I know the Element User of fire lives in Konoha somewhere, but I don't think the Element User of leaf even lives in the Shinobi Lands at all." He looked over at Sasuke to see if he might know.

Sasuke looked at the ground. "We aren't the only land out there," he said in a small voice. "There's the Samurai Lands too, you know."

Kakashi nodded. He didn't have to ask how Sasuke knew about the Samurai Lands. Sasuke's father had gone on a mission there once and had come back close to death.

"I want to get this straight," Sakura said, ending the long silence. "There are a group of people that are called Element Users, and they show up every one-hundred years. Each one lives in a different country, yet knows each other like they were best friends. They Element User of fire lives in Konoha somewhere, and the Element User of leaf lives somewhere in the Samurai Lands, right?"

No one was listening to her at all. Sasuke had disappeared somewhere and Kakashi was walking away from Sakura and heading for the cave, carrying a limp Naruto on the way. Sakura pouted. Why wasn't anyone listening to her today? She ran to catch up to Kakashi, wondering why she had never heard of the Element Users before.


	6. A Bit of Information is Fine

In case anyone is wondering, I'm revealing only little bits of information at a time on porpose. Really soon though, information will pour in, so beware.

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Chapter 6:

A Bit of Information is Fine

When they entered the cave, there was a fire already started and Sasuke was sitting with his back to them, showing that he trusted them in his own way. Sakura sat next to him, studying his face while Kakashi laid Naruto inside his sleeping bag. Before too long, Naruto awoke, and immediately started blabbing about his dream.

"Sakura, watch out! There's a big snake behind you! Don't move! Hey, wait a minute, where am I?

Sakura stifled a giggle. "Are you telling me that you fell 50 metres because you fell asleep?"

"No more night watch for you," Kakashi said sternly, though the expression on his face (from what you _could_ see) said that he wasn't as serious as he sounded.

Sasuke just sat there, not moving even a tiny bit. Naruto looked over at him suspiciously, but dropped his gaze immediately. Sometimes it was best to leave him alone to his own thoughts. But what was with this pounding headache of his? Could you get headaches just from sleeping?

"Hey Sasuke, why would that Kora person know more about the Element Users then you? You seem to know a lot already," Sakura asked, breaking the silence that seemed to have lasted forever.

Sasuke looked over at her slightly and if Sakura didn't know better, she'd say he looked sad. But the next moment, he was back to his normal, expressionless face.

"It wasn't to learn more about the Element Users themselves," he said, interlacing his fingers and putting them on his forehead. "It was more to learn what people think an Element User can do, and how much information _they_ know."

Sakura frowned. Then it struck her; she never asked what an Element User can do. Before she could ask, Naruto deserved his question.

"What the heck are you talking about!"

Kakashi looked at Sasuke and sighed, seeing that the teenager had gone into his 'non-existent' mode. Naruto hadn't the slightest clue what had happened (obviously) but if Sasuke's theory was correct, he was going to need to know all the information he could get.

"Sakura, you take Naruto outside and explain everything to him," Kakashi ordered. "Sasuke, I need to talk to you, alone."

Sakura nodded, and lead Naruto outside to leave Kakashi and Sasuke to talk. Kakashi went over, and sat next to Sasuke, who took no notice. Kakashi sighed and thought about how he was going to approach this. After a while he had the right words.

"If you knew this was the year of the Element Users, why didn't you tell the Hokage?"

Sasuke sighed and placed his hands on his lap. "If she doesn't know, then she can't consider herself the Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Kakashi couldn't argue, even if he wanted to. He sighed in turn and stood up carefully, knowing that Tai and Koji had somehow come back from their house fast for their ages.

"I expect you to fill Naruto and Sakura in on the situation on the way back," he added before taking the two Unuki brothers back to their house for a second time.

Sasuke sat there, surprised at himself and at Kakashi. Why hadn't he thought about it before? It was his destiny to not let anyone know, yet he felt sorry that he had altered Naruto's memory. And Kakashi too, why hadn't he said anything except the obvious questions? He knew something he shouldn't, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was keeping it a secret until Kohaku gave the word to reveal it.

Sasuke subconsciously touched the place on his shirt where the medallion rest. Naruto would eventually remember, even if he used his full power. When that day came, he would have to reveal it earlier than expected and against orders.


	7. The Information about the Element Users

There are some things I would like to explain before you read this chapter.

First thing:I'm sorry about the long wait. The reason I had the first 6 chapters up in one day was because I had them ready, I just didn't know how to transfer them to story mode. (pretty pathetic right?) I just didn't want people to think I'm a speed typer, so that's that comment.

Second thing: About where I place my chan's and kun's and such. I don't really use the chan and kun except for a few characters, such as Hinata. I do use sensei, (who doesn't?) sama, and san sometimes. This is just how I do things, I'm not quite sure why, but it is. Sorry for any confusion.

Chapter 8 should be up soon but in the mean time, here's chapter 7. Enjoy!

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Chapter 7:

The Information about the Element Users

The way back to Konoha was a lot more silent than it normally would be. Kakashi lead his pupils cautiously and slowly on propose so Sasuke had time to explain everything about the Element Users to Naruto and Sakura.

"Sakura didn't explain very well," Naruto complained after a while of walking in silence. "No offence, but you talk too fast sometimes."

"It's not my fault that you can't comprehend everything I say in the time that I say it," Sakura said coldly over her shoulder. "If you can't understand what I say sometimes, don't pretend that I talked too fast."

"Sasuke, I think you should explain some things to your team-mates now," Kakashi said. "_Before Naruto and Sakura get into a fight like last time about fish_," he added in his head.

Sasuke nodded slightly but kept his head facing the ground. "Naruto, what parts _did_ you get?"

"That there are some people that come back to life every one hundred years and that's about it," Naruto explained, trailing off on the last few syllables.

Sasuke sighed. Explaining things to Naruto was like a chore that was never done.

"Element Users are a group of twelve or so people who come around every one hundred years," he began. "There are Element Users for the elements fire, water, earth, wind, lightning…"

"So for all of the Great Shinobi countries, right?" Naruto interrupted.

Sakura looked at him with the coldest eyes she had and inner Sakura was screaming foul words at him with every breath she had. Sasuke was actually talking and explaining things to her for once, and he just _has_ to interrupt.

"Yes and no," Sasuke answered in a more patient tone then he thought he could use. "There are Element Users of the Shinobi Lands' elements, such as fire, water, earth, wind and lightening but also of the Samurai Lands' elements, like leaf, mist, stone, sand, and cloud. Then there are the extra elements of snow and ice."

"Sasuke…," Sakura said in a small voice. "I never got to ask, but, what can an Element User do?"

Naruto's head moved up and down so fast it was impossible to count how many times it moved.

Sasuke thought about it for a second, deciding how to phrase his words. After a while, he said: "Just as the name implies, Element Users use the element that they are assigned. The Element User of fire uses fire type… 'powers' so to speak."

Kakashi looked past his shoulder at Sasuke for a second. Sasuke knew so much about the Element Users, yet he never even gave a hint he knew about them at all until now. Funny how he's like that.

"Powers? What do you mean by 'powers'?" Naruto asked, his eyes wide with wonder. The next second his eyes were full of dirt as he fell face-first into a pile of it.

Sakura rolled on the ground with laughter, saying "Watch you feet when you walk, loser," in between snorts. Sasuke rolled his eyes and kept walking, asking himself why he bothered at all.

The next time they spoke at all was when they took a break for lunch. Sakura explained everything she knew so far about the Element Users to Naruto about ten times before he finally got it. Kakashi added the little bits Sakura left out every now and then but all Sasuke did was sit under a tree and think. He probably needed that time to think anyway, what with everything going on in his life right now. And he had to explain just about everything he knew about the Element Users to Naruto and Sakura after they started walking again. Kakashi knew that Sasuke probably knew more about the Element Users than even he himself, but how was still a mystery.

After Naruto had complained enough about ramen being better then all of the food he just had, they began to walk again, this time a little bit faster. Kakashi didn't want Koji and Tai catching up to them again since they had already caught up like, ten times now. Sasuke kept his head lowered until Kakashi told him to continue what he was saying before Naruto decided he was hungry for dirt. He nodded slightly, but kept his gaze fix with the moving ground below.

"Sasuke, you said something about Element Users having powers, what did you mean by that?" Sakura asked after she established that Sasuke wasn't going to talk unless he was asked.

Naruto started his crazy nod again but Sakura held his head still with much difficultly.

"They can use elemental attacks," Sasuke stated simply.

"But aren't jutsu like powers sort of?" Naruto asked after freeing himself of Sakura's grip. "I mean, you use fire jutsu, so does that make you an Element User of fire?

"No, not even the least bit. But jutsu being like powers is at least starting to get to the point," Sasuke muttered. "They use attacks just like jutsu, except it's not jutsu."

"You've lost me," Sakura admitted slowly. She quickly grabbed Naruto's head before he could try his crazy nod.

Sasuke made a noise that was neither a sigh nor a snort. "Don't you get it?" he asked, clearly frustrated. "They use an attack that would normally be a jutsu except for two very important factors: First, they don't use any hand signs. Second, they don't use chakra in their attacks. It just simply 'is'."

Naruto frowned. "Then how does it work? Like, how does the attack come?"

"It just does," Sasuke said in an irritated tone. He had had enough of these stupid questions. If they didn't understand, that was their problem.

Sakura sensed his frustration and changed the subject slightly. "I still don't how any of this has anything to do with Kora."

"Who's Kora?" Naruto asked. His question was easily ignored.

"The Element User of lightening is known for being pretty dim witted," Sasuke explain, starting to calm down a bit. "Each time, the people of the Village Hidden in the Clouds seem to know when they're born. This time, they just happen to be born on December 20th. That's the same day as Kora."

"So people think that she's the Element User of lightening," Sakura finished, starting to catch on. She was delighted to see Sasuke nod slightly.

"But is she?" Naruto asked, interested in whatever Sakura was suddenly interested in.

Sasuke shrugged. "No one really knows if anyone is an Element User until the year that all the Element Users turn fifteen. That's when their element symbol appears on their foreheads. That year happens to be this coming year."

Sakura scratched her head. "You speak as if the Element Users are bad. Are they?"

Sasuke stopped short in the middle of the path. His eyes were wide as if he had just seen a ghost. Sakura looked at him suspiciously and Naruto back away. He knew that Sasuke only chose to use facial expressions when he was either three things: really angry, when he was deciding who to get angry at next, and if he sensed danger. Kakashi just stood there as well, almost as if he too were frozen with Sasuke. The next few minutes went by really fast; as do all times that there is a battle between ninja of different countries.


	8. The Cloud Ninja Attack

Gomen everyone. I'm really sorry this took so long. I had to figure out how to do battles (and even now I know I didn't do a long enough battle) and I couldn't upload it due to slow computer.

Onanother note: To all who didn't read the 1st chapter (the second chapter really but I labeled it as chapter 1) I sort of updated it. You see, when I was typing it up, I sort of forgot to give the mysterious boy Kohaku the details I had set aside for him. That's up now so you might as well check to see if it's different then what you've already read.

Also: I think I might be going a bit fast here, so if something is unclear to you, please let me know, and I'll try and clarify itfor youin the next chapter.

Other then that, enjoy chapter 8!

* * *

Chapter 8:

The Cloud Ninja Attack

Shuriken fell from the sky, at least Naruto though they were shuriken. They were weapons one second and people the next. He narrowly avoided the kunais that were thrown at him after that.

Sakura crouched behind a bush. It was her duty as a medical ninja not to get beat up unless absolutely necessary. She watched Naruto jump into a nearby tree and bring up a camouflaging sheet. She swore under her breath. He hadn't bothered to hide his presence, and the enemy was already on the ground. Sakura swore again before she moved to a farther distance.

Sasuke jumped out from where he was hiding and jumped onto the closest person, kunai going right though their head. He jumped off and got into a fighting stance, waiting for the others to realize what just happened. One of them was brave enough to lunge forward with his katana and to try to stab him. He was dead on the ground before he even took two steps. Sasuke grinned. This was going to be easy.

Kakashi headed to where Naruto was. He was the only one who didn't jump out of the way when the enemy came into view. Stupid Naruto. Kakashi stopped just in time to see Sasuke stab a ninja in the head and flip back over. He smiled slightly under his mask before he remembered Naruto. He tended to get distracted now and then, but why was beyond him.

He stopped in front of the shaking camouflage sheet and pulled it off. The next second he was pinned against a tree, one of the kunais going through his left arm. He held back the urge to let out a cry, and suddenly realize the obvious trap he had fallen into. Naruto jumped down from the branch he was balancing on and immediately fell down laughing.

"_You_ fell into my trap, sensei?" He managed to ask.

His laughter caused the other ninja running in their direction. Kakashi unhooked himself from the tree and grabbed a kunai from his side pouch. In no time at all, Naruto and him were back to back, surrounded by ninja. Kakashi took note that the forehead protectors were those of the Hidden Cloud Village, and that the one that seemed to be in charge looked a bit like Kanokori.

"I blame you Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled, pointing at the white haired man next to him. "It's your entire fault that they're here! I don't know you did it, but I don't trust you anymore!"

Kakashi sighed. Naruto always said that in times of danger. Just last mission when Naruto stepped in a bear trap, that was Kakashi's fault somehow as well. This was real danger though. There were at least ten around them, and Kakashi had the sinking suspicion that they were all jounin.

"Naruto, when I give the word, run quickly back to Konoha and tell the Hokage that there's been a dispute in the alliance," Kakashi told Naruto in a hushed tone.

Naruto nodded, even though he had a better plan. He got ready to make a dash for it, and only barely heard Kakashi send him off. He ran down the tree and five of the Cloud ninja ran after him. Prefect, just what he wanted. He quickly sent chakra to his nose and found where Sakura was. He headed there as fast as he could go without the Kyuubi.

"Sakura!" Naruto called. "Sakura, I need you to make a hole in the ground, a really, really big hole!"

Sakura finished punching the ninja she was fighting and looked over at Naruto. He was jumping from tree to tree with a trail of ninja following his every step. Sakura gasped a little before she regained her posture. Focusing her chakra to her fist, she punched the ground as hard as she could, then jumped back just as quick. The earth split apart and a hole about a kilometre deep appeared.

Sakura quickly checked to see if it was deep enough. She bit her lip; any Shinobi could climb back up that. It would be an easy task, especially if they were jounin, like these ones.

"Sasuke, I need a way for those jounin to stay in the hole," she called over to the boy fighting on the tree next to her.

Sasuke nodded and kicked the ninja he was fighting into the pit. He preformed the seals boar, dog, bird, monkey and sheep in the blink in of an eye and pressed his right hand to a piece of a log. Quickly, he threw the log into the pit and watched a trail of smoke decent into the hole. There was a scream from below and then there was silence.

"Naruto! You can bring them over now!" Sakura called.

"Finally," Naruto sighed.

He ran down the tree he was running up and used a clone to get them into the hole. All five of them followed the shadow clone into the pit, and screams could be heard from below.

"Sasuke, how many did you put in?" Naruto asked.

"Just one," Sasuke replied. "He can eat anything, any size."

Sakura looked over the edge of the hole and stared in disbelief at all the blood in it.

"Is he venomous?" she asked slowly.

"Who are you calling venomous, girl?" A voice hissed from below. "I'll have you know I'm a python! That's it, I'm full and I'm leaving."

A snake slithered up out of the hole, and Naruto's jaw couldn't seem to close. Its belly must have been as big as him, Sakura, Sasuke and Kakashi all put into one. Sasuke bowed at the waist as the snake disappeared from sight in a puff of smoke.

"Don't stand still!" Kakashi boomed at his three students as he rushed by. "We're still under attack here!"

"Right," Sakura agreed. "We'll get back to Konoha as fast as we can."

"As fast as _you_ can," Sasuke said under his breath. "I'll tell them your coming." And with that, he was gone


	9. Contact Tsunade

Ok, I wasn't expecting to get this chapter done so soon, but I did, so what ever.

To LanzaDeChu: Sorry about that! I guess I'm still getting a feel for the characters before I start to give them their real personalities that I've set aside for them. Next chapter, I'll start on Naruto.

A big thank you goes out to everyone that has review so far. (that would be Tenshi-Battosai, Prongs-gurl202113, Sliverlode, and of coarse LanzaDeChu) You guys have encouraged me to type faster and keep this story rolling. Arigatou!

That's that, so here's chapter 9!

* * *

Chapter 9:

Contact Tsunade

Naruto and Sakura ran through the forest, heading straight for Konoha. Sasuke had gone on ahead of them, and hopefully told the Hokage what had happened by now.

"Naruto, slow down!" Sakura called.

Naruto couldn't slow down though. Kakashi needed _him_ to tell the Hokage about this, not _Sasuke_. The only problem about that was that Sasuke could use the teleportation jutsu and he couldn't. Sasuke might get there first, but Naruto knew where Tsunade was every afternoon.

"I have a better idea; you hurry up!" he called over his shoulder.

Sakura shuddered slightly at the sight of his eyes. The red eyes with slits for pupils still freaked her out a bit, even though see saw them on a regular basis. It was true that Naruto was in control of the Kyuubi better than he was two years ago, but he couldn't quite harness its chakra completely. Even now, he was using more chakra then he really needed to stick to trees while running.

"Never mind, you go on ahead, I'll catch up later," she told him.

Smiling his (sharp) toothy smile of his, he darted off as Sakura slowed down to walking pace. She knew he was competing with Sasuke, and she refused to get in the way of that. If she did, Sasuke could run away again, even though she was she he wouldn't do that. She was forced to stop her train of though, when a shuriken flew passed her ear. She sighed and got into a fighting position as the Cloud ninja caught up with her.

"Lead us to Konoha and we'll leave you alone," he told her in a muffled voice.

Sakura could connect his appearance to Kakashi's a bit, but only the mask part. He was dressed in all green and even had his face painted green.

"_How long were they spying on us?_" Sakura thought.

"Well girl?" he asked once more. "This is your last chance. Either lead me to the Village Hidden in the Leaves or die here."

"You're the one that's going to die here!" she shouted.

Slightly taken aback from her words, the man slipped on the branch he was standing on and in doing so gave Sakura a chance to strike. He cried out his finale breath as the kunai in his chest sank deeper into his heart. Blood splattered everywhere and Sakura moved on.

"_This is getting serious_," she though franticly. "_I'd better catch up to Naruto and Sasuke_."

She started to run again, leaving a trail of traps behind her.

Meanwhile, Naruto was halfway there to Konoha. His claws were growing larger as his rage also grew.

"Sasuke!" He yelled blindly as he ran straight through the Konoha gates.

"That guy was going really fast," a person commented from above.

"Yeah, we barely had time to open the gate," his partner agreed.

"Don't you know who that was?" the third guard asked. "That was Uzumaki Naruto, the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi."

The other two froze as they watched the cloud of dust rush farther into the village.

Naruto ran into the village as came to a halt in front of a building. Sasuke was leaning against the frame of the door with his eyes closed and arms crossed. He opened one eye and pointed inside. Naruto took that as his way of saying that he hadn't told her yet. Naruto told the Kyuubi to cancel the flow of its chakra and walked inside.

"She's in a bad mood," Sasuke mumbled as he walked passed.

Naruto smiled a bit. If Tsunade was in a bad mood, that meant she was losing, again.

"Granny Tsunade!" he yelled when he spotted the women's table.

She looked up from her cards and glared at him. Judging from the expression on Shizune's face, she had lost a lot of money already. Naruto ran up to her and pointed a finger right in her face.

"You're supposed to be in the Hokage's office, Granny Tsunade!" he shouted.

"Shut up Naruto," she told him. "I'm in the middle of a game here, can't you see that?"

"But Kakashi-sensei told me to tell you that some Cloud ninja attacked us and that means they broke the treaty thing."

Tsunade stiffened. "What do you mean?" she asked slowly.

"We were ambushed by about forty Hidden Cloud jounin," Sasuke explained as he walked up to the table as well. "Sakura and Kakashi-sensei are still fighting them."

Shizune fell backwards and Tsunade stood up fast.

"I'm sorry gentlemen, but this game is over for the time being," she explained before she ran out of the room.

Sasuke disappeared again and Naruto was left to carry Shizune back to the office.

"Hey Naruto, what're you doing?" called a familiar voice once he had exited the building.

"How troublesome to run into you here," another voice said.

Naruto looked up to see Ino and Shikamaru hovering over him.

Ino had hair falling down to her ankles even though it was in a pony and she had tied her hair up with her forehead protector. Her normal dress had been replaced with a purple skirt that went down to her knees and a sleeveless top of the same colour that rounded up like a turtle neck. Her belly-button was tattooed with the symbol of Konoha and her nails painted a dark purple.

Shikamaru on the other hand wasn't wearing anything special. He had changed his earrings to hoops and was wearing his chuunin vest over top of a green uniform. Unlike Ino, he had managed to keep his hair the way he wanted it; short and practically sticking straight up.

"Don't tell me you guys took Sakura's advice seriously and actually went on a date?" Naruto snickered.

"No!" they both shouted at the same time, faces turning red.

"Never mind that. Here, let me help you with that," Shikamaru said, taking Shizune from Naruto's back.

"But really, what are you doing?" Ino asked again.

"Shizune fainted when Sasuke told her and Granny Tsunade that some cloud ninja attacked us," Naruto explained. "Sasuke and the old hag left after that and I got stuck carrying her back to the Hokage's office."

"So we're under attack," Shikamaru murmured. "How troublesome."

"We'll come with you to the office," Ino suggested. "All of us are probably going to be needed anyhow."

Naruto nodded and jumped onto the roof of a nearby building. Shikamaru jumped ahead of him and the race began. The two girls stood and watched them dart away.

"Boys," Shizune muttered.

"Yeah," Ino agreed. "Hold on a minute! When did you wake up?"

"Just now," she replied, smiling as Kyou ran into her arms.

Theyboth shared a laugh before running to catch up with the boys.


	10. The Second Meeting

Yay! Chapter 10! I'm amazed at myself for typing so fast, but now that another week of school has begun, I'll probably slow down a bit.

To be honest with you all, I haven't seen all the episodes of Naruto yet. I've only seen episodes 1-60, 83-85, 127-134 and 160-168. I have read all the manga though, so I think that makes up for it.Because of this, if I get something wrong, feel free to correct me.

I think I've been kind of dragging out the Element Users bit, so there's some info about that in this chapter.

Other then that, here's chapter 10. Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 10:

The Second Meeting

In no time at all, the victorious Naruto, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Ino were assembled in front of Tsunade and Shizune.

"I take it you all know the current situation," Tsunade asked, getting straight down to business. "The hidden village of Kumo has broken the alliance that they had agreed to. The purpose of this is still unclear, but we do know that they don't know the way to Konoha completely. Shikamaru, you will take the genin here and help Kakashi and Sakura drive these ninja back to their own land. After that, we will send a messenger to figure out what has gone wrong. Any questions?"

"Yeah," Ino said, putting up her hand. "You said you would send a messenger. Does that mean we get to come back afterward?"

"Yes, if you can mange it without getting them to follow you back."

"When do we leave?" Shikamaru asked.

"Now. Go."

One by one, they all filed out of the office. Shikamaru in the lead with Naruto second, Ino third and Sasuke last.

"Sasuke, you won't be joining them just yet," Tsunade called to him.

Sasuke turned around slowly and motioned for the others to go on. Shikamaru shrugged and kept walking followed closely by Naruto and Ino.

"Tsunade-sama, why not?" Shizune asked slowly.

"Sasuke, you know why they're after Konoha, don't you?" Tsunade asked curiously.

Sasuke's head dropped slightly. "Sort of."

"Well then, why?" she asked, slightly annoyed with his attitude.

"They were told that the Element User of the Lightning Country is most likely the weakest of the twelve," He explained. "They were also told that the Element User of the Fire Country was the strongest. Now they're after it."

Tsunade sighed. "I had totally forgotten about the Element Users. Well, the Uchiha clan knew most about them, and apparently still do. You are now in charge of any Element User information that comes into the village." She explained to him. "Understand?"

Sasuke nodded and headed out, going straight to the Uchiha compound before leaving. He walked pass his old house and bowed in front of it, settling any sprits that may have been disturbed by his visit. After that he headed for the Uchiha Temple, a temple that is only reachable if Uchiha blood runs through your veins.

The temple had been built by the first few generations of Uchiha and had stood ever since. It was set up on the far side of the Uchiha compound and always had a barrier around it; a barrier that kept out anyone that wasn't any Uchiha. Even Kakashi couldn't see or get to it. Anyone watching Sasuke now would merely see him there one second, and gone the next.

Sasuke quickly walked up the few stairs to get into the actual temple. The room was as empty as it had ever been. The only difference was the cold air that seemed to fill the whole room. Sasuke walked into the middle of it and was surprised to have the mini polar bear jump down onto his head once more.

"I thought I might find you here," Sasuke said, taking to polar bear off his head and putting into his arms.

It snuggled up to him as he scratched behind its ear. It made a purr-like-sound and quickly fell asleep.

"I seem to be seeing you a lot lately," Sasuke said to the air.

A white figure emerged from the shadows. It was the same white-obsessed boy that Sasuke had been with the other day; the same white cloaked, pale skinned, white haired boy that had given Sasuke the mysterious medallion. Sasuke looked up and noticed that his eyes were white as well, the white eye colour of the Hyuuga Byakugan.

"How do you always know where I am?" he asked, seemingly annoyed.

Sasuke shrugged. "I had help from her this time," he said, referring to the polar bear.

The polar bear opened its eyes and stared at Sasuke.

"I know you know my name," she chirped. "In case you forgot, it's Shive."

Shive had a high pitched voice. It wasn't exactly like a bird, but it was close. Standing about the size of a football, her rosy fur around her cheeks gave her an innocent look. She jumped out of Sasuke's arms and onto Kohaku's shoulder.

"So, what did she say?" Kohaku asked.

Sasuke shrugged again. "Stuff. She's put me in charge of all the Element User information and the cloud ninja found out how weak Kora is. Now they're attacking Konoha."

The white boy raised his eyebrows. "They know it's Kora?"

"No," Sasuke replied simply. "They found out that she's weak. Nothing more."

Kohaku sigh deeply. "Do you know how hard it is to get information out of you?"

"Probably not."

"And you never will."

"How dare you forget about me!" Shive cried. "I try hard to make myself noticed, but no. You don't even pay attention to me!"

Kohaku patted her head. She sighed stubbornly and jumped onto a huge statue of the first Uchiha and turned around. She put her head down and fell asleep almost right away.

"Sorry about her," Kohaku apologized to Sasuke. "We've been traveling a lot and I don't think she likes to travel that much."

"You think?" Sasuke asked out of pure boredom.

Kohaku scowled at him. He sighed again and turned around.

"I'll need to speak to you again in two weeks," he said through gritted teeth.

Sasuke nodded and began to walk out of the temple. He was reassured that the other boy was gone by the sudden rush of cold air and the snowflake that landed beside him. He sighed and jumped into a nearby tree, getting his bearings so he could catch up to Naruto. As long as he and everyone else didn't know, he could stay in Konoha, at least a little longer.

Meanwhile, while all that was happening…

"Hey Shikamaru, shouldn't we wait for Sasuke?" Ino asked.

Shikamaru tightened his forehead protector around his arm and sighed.

"It's troublesome, but we have to leave now. He'll have to catch up later. Sakura and Kakashi need us right now."

"I don't agree," Naruto spoke up. "Sasuke was in that room, so he should be on your team thing."

"Yeah!" Ino agreed.

Shikamaru sighed. "As troublesome as it is, I'm in charge of this group, and I'll decide when we leave. Ino, you have to get your ninja gear. That shouldn't take you more than 2 minutes. Meet me and Naruto at the Konoha main gates."

Ino nodded and ran off to her house as Naruto and Shikamaru headed for the main gates.

"You don't have to act so bossy you know," Naruto said when they were on the other side of Konoha. "I'm going to be a chuunin this year and then I'll show you that you need all your members of your group before you go anywhere."

Shikamaru was propped up against a tree and was staring at the clouds. He closed his eyes and imagined that Naruto wasn't there, that he wasn't talking and he wasn't being a troublesome idiot. When he reopened his eyes, a cloud passed by that reminded him of Naruto's toothy grin.

"_So much for forgetting he's there_," Shikamaru thought.

"Hey Naruto," he said out loud. "You do know that there are only two more weeks left in this troublesome year, don't you?"

"Sort of," Naruto replied.

He had completely forgotten that Christmas had happened only one day before he left for his mission. He had received many presents, most having to do with ninja gear. Jiraiya was one of the two only people that had gotten him something that didn't have to do with being a ninja. He had gotten him a calendar, and Naruto had already circled all the hot babes that he took interest in. The other thing that wasn't ninja related was piece of moss from a favourite log of the Gamma family. He didn't quite remember where he had put that,

Just then Ino came running up the path. She was panting when she reached them, and she had changed her hairstyle. Now she had her hair braided into two long braids with her forehead protector around her stomach again.

"Are we ready to leave now?" Shikamaru asked impatiently.

Ino nodded and Naruto shook his head.

"We have to wait for Sasuke!"

Shikamaru sighed again. "Ino and I are leaving now. You can do either two things:

One, you can stay here and be useless while you wait for Sasuke. Two, you can come with us and help your sensei and Sakura drive back a whole bunch of cloud ninja from entering Konoha and most likely destroying the entire village. It's your choice."

Naruto was stunned. Shikamaru only spoke like that when things were really serious and important. He gulped and ran to catch up with them.

"_Hold on a little longer Sakura_," he thought. "_I'm coming_."

* * *

Ok, just to clear something up, the polar bear's name, Shive, that is pronounced ina Japanese accent. Thus, it is pronounced shi-ve, sort of, kind of, so yeah. Just making sure that it isn't mistaken for a different word. Hope you enjoyed chapter 10! 


	11. Two People Join the Mission

Ok, chapter 11 is here.

I sort of changed my mind about something: I'm not even going to bother using 'kun' and 'chan'. I'm only going to use 'san' where I see appropriate and the same goes for 'sama'. So yeah.

Enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 11:

Two People Join the Mission

They ran through the forest as quickly as they could, Naruto in the lead, Shikamaru in second, Ino in third, and a Naruto clone in the back. Shikamaru said that would confuse the enemy, and what he said went at the moment.

"Shikamaru! I see Sakura!" Naruto cried suddenly.

Sakura waved to her companions, happy to see someone that wasn't a cloud ninja. The three of them came to a stop in front of her as the Naruto clone disappeared.

"Sakura, what happened?" Ino asked, looking at the blood splattered all over Sakura's clothing.

"I killed a Cloud ninja," Sakura replied. "Is that so bad?"

"I think she's asking why you're covered in blood," Naruto pointed out.

Sakura looked herself down. "I killed a Cloud ninja," she said again, shrugging a little.

Shikamaru sighed. "We've been sent on a troublesome mission to drive the Cloud ninja back to their country," he explained. "Are you going to help or are you going to go back to Konoha?"

"I'll come," she answered after a moment of thinking.

"Ok. You can be behind Ino. Naruto, we don't need the clone anymore," Shikamaru ordered.

They got into the new formation and headed off to where Kakashi was last. When they got to the last Kakashi-sighting place, Sakura heard a faint rustling in the bushes behind her. She signalled to Shikamaru that she was going to check it out and proceeded when he gave her the thumbs up.

She crouched down and got up close to the bush while Shikamaru, Ino and Naruto set up a quick trap. Naruto held up three fingers. They would go in three seconds. Then there were only two fingers. Then one.

Sakura threw a kunai in front of her and then jumped into the bush herself. She could see a dark shadow jump into the tree above and followed it immediately. Naruto and Ino were shouting at her to bring the person into their trap, but she couldn't make out clearly what Shikamaru was shouting. She threw four shuriken one after another to lure the subject into the set trap. To her delight, it fell for it. It jumped away to avoid the shuriken and was an inch away from the trap when Sakura found herself hanging upside down inside of the net the others had set up as the trap.

"What happened!" she yelled in frustration.

"I didn't want to get caught in a trap so I put you in it instead," a dark and familiar voice said from behind her.

She swerved her body around so that she was looking straight into the dark eyes of Sasuke. Naruto was laughing his head off along side with Ino, and Shikamaru was desperately trying to hide the grin on his face. Sakura blushed as Sasuke cut her down from the net and blushed even harder when she realized Shikamaru had known Sasuke was there the entire time.

"And you didn't bother to say anything!" she yelled at him.

She was turning red in the face, and it wasn't only because she was mad. She had gotten in kissing range of Sasuke. How could she do that? Lee would kill her if he found out. He even freaked out seeing her kiss her mom good-bye, so how would he deal with Sasuke? She didn't want to think about it. She closed her eyes and changed the subject.

"Shouldn't we find Kakashi-sensei?" she asked, hoping Naruto would get the point and help her out.

"I think we should check on the path to Kumo," Sasuke suggested before Naruto could even open his mouth.

"That sounds like a good place to at least start to look," Ino agreed.

Shikamaru sighed. "It's going to be a troublesome way, but let's go," he said. "Sasuke, I'm putting you in second place and…"

He never finished. Sasuke was already running down the path closely followed by his two team mates. Ino stood beside Shikamaru and blinked.

Shikamaru sighed again. "Race you to ahead of Sasuke?"

"You're on!"

Ino started ahead of Shikamaru but they evened out eventually. They never did get ahead of Sasuke, and neither did Naruto, much to his dismay.

"So there you guys are," Kakashi said from the shadows.

Naruto and Sakura jumped a little and Shikamaru and Ino had to dig their heels into the ground to stop themselves. Sasuke just stood there. Kakashi had been busy tying up three knocked out cloud ninja with the help of a biting Pakkun. The little dog had grown maybe an inch or two, but he looked no different.

"Where'd you guys go?" the little dog asked, tugging on Sakura's medical apron.

She chuckled slightly when he ran around to Kakashi's legs, spitting out the blood. Ino pouted. Kakashi was acting like her and Shikamaru didn't exist. How dare he!

"Pakkun," she said, waiting for Sakura to nod at that being his name. "Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto had to go get help."

She was talking in a tone a baby might like, and Pakkun didn't like being treated like a puppy. Naruto hid behind Sakura, Sakura hid behind Sasuke, but soon went and hide behind Kakashi due to Sasuke disappearing. They all plugged their ears and stood by for fireworks.

"I am **not** a puppy anymore!" he roared at a wide eyed Ino, fangs bared. "I'm older then Kakashi, and that's pretty old! Now, if you want to treat me like a puppy still, do it in Hell!"

Kakashi had to pick up the small dog before he could go after Ino and forced him to vanish. Everyone let out of the air they were holding and finally could breathe again. Shikamaru supported Ino until she recovered and Sasuke could be seen out of the corner of Naruto's eye. He threw him a dirty look before bursting out laughing with Sakura.

"You got lucky, really lucky Ino," Naruto managed to say. "Kakashi-sensei stopped him before he did any real damage. Next time you won't just have to get your ears tested at the hospital."

Kakashi sighed. "Can we get back to the mission now?"

Ino snapped out of her daze and nodded. Shikamaru muttered something about the whole thing being too troublesome and Sakura jumped up to where Sasuke was.

He looked at her suspiciously before turning back to Kakashi. Naruto didn't want to be left out of his group, so he jumped up too. Ino sighed. Why was Chouji always out on some sort of 'private' mission with Asuma? She felt so left out without the sound of his chip bag crackling in the background. Judging by the look on Shikamaru's face, he felt the same way.

"Alright; Ino, Shikamaru, I have a surprise for you two," Kakashi said with a silly look on his face.

Shikamaru looked at Ino, and she looked at him. What kind of surprise could a person like Kakashi have for them? He pointed to a bush and a fat boy stepped out, a bag of chips in hand.

"Chouji!" They both shouted at the same time.

The other boy lifted a huge hand to wave, but immediately thought that hand was for eating with, so he grabbed another handful of chips instead.

"_That's Chouji for you_," Ino thought, sighing as he put the empty bag in his pocket and grabbed another one.

"Asuma left him in my care," Kakashi explained. "He'll be part of our mission for the time being. By the way Shikamaru," he added. "I'm in charge now. You can suggest things only now."

"Fine," Shikamaru said, running over to lead Chouji to the place Ino and him were standing.

"_Kakashi's acting weird_," Sakura thought. "_He must be excited about an interesting mission since so long,_" she concluded.

"I've gotten rid of the ninja in this area," Kakashi continued. "If we keep going toward Kumo, we should be able to stop them."

"Our orders from Tsunade-sama were to drive them back to Kumo, not stop anything," Sasuke spoke up.

Kakashi nodded. "That's what I meant. Ok, so Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto will move forward from here, Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji will go a bit to the right of them. If you were to run into any cloud ninja, do you think your group would be ok?"

"Of course!" Naruto said right off the bat.

"Yeah, if Chouji got serious maybe," Shikamaru said out of the corner of his mouth.

"Good. I'll stay behind a little bit just in case something does happen," Kakashi told them. "Now go!"

And with that, the two groups moved out, all thinking the same thing:

_Can we really trust him as Kakashi?_


	12. Mysteries, Mysteries and More Mysteries

Chapter 12! Happy times! I tried to make this one a bit longer, but I don't think it worked. Oh well.

Now, whenever you see ---------- a bunch of dots like that, that means I'm switching groups. It's kind of obvious, but I wanted to separate them anyway.

Enjoy!

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Chapter 12:

Mysteries, Mysteries and More Mysteries

Sasuke stayed in the lead of his group, making sure he went at a pace that the others could keep up at. Naruto tried to get ahead every once in a while, but Sasuke could out-run him any day. Sakura kept quiet for the most part, arguing with herself about Kakashi. When none of them could sense Kakashi anymore (or the fake, no one really knew?) Sasuke stopped and turned around to face his team mates.

"Sakura, you're best at these things. Was that Kakashi-sensei or not?" he asked out of the blue.

Sakura jumped a little at the mention of her name. She quickly recovered and thought about it for a moment. After a while, answered the question.

"I don't really know. If it's a Transformation Technique, it's a pretty good one."

"Expect the personality," Naruto mumbled under his breath.

Sasuke sighed. That meant he would have to use the Sharingan, and he really didn't like using it anymore. Having all three of the Sharingan genjutsus sort of got annoying after a while, especially the third one. He shivered ever so slightly at the thought of it.

"I know a short cut to Kumo," Naruto chirped in, lightening the topic a little.

Sakura and Sasuke looked up at him, disbelief showing on their faces. Naruto pouted after a single glance at the two.

"It's true! Follow me."

And with that he was off, running a bit to the right of the path Kakashi had chosen for them. Sasuke and Sakura sighed simultaneously before they darted after him, keeping alert for any cloud ninja that might try to attack them since Naruto obviously wasn't going to do that.

"_I'll show them_," Naruto thought, gritting his teeth. "_I'm not the drop-out Sasuke is used to, and I'm not the jerk Sakura likes to think I am. This will prove it to them._"

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"Shikamaru, Ino, slow down!" Chouji complained.

Shikamaru sighed before he came to a complete halt, and Ino copied him a second later.

"What is it _now_ Chouji?" Ino asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"I need to get another bag of chips out of my backpack."

"This is troublesome. We'll never get anywhere at this rate."

"Chouji, no more snacks!"

"Why not?"

"Because it will be even more troublesome if you get any fatter then you already are."

"What did you just say?"

Chouji's eyes were set aflame and Shikamaru immediately regretted his words.

"_Shoot, I really should've kept my mouth closed"_

Chouji began collecting as much chakra in his hand as he possibly could, inflating it at the same time. Ino had already taken cover behind a bush and was calmly brushing out her hair. This sort of thing happened all the time; sometimes to her, sometimes to Shikamaru and sometimes to Asuma. She had learned the hard way not to interfere. Shikamaru never helped her, so why should she risk her life to save him?

Shikamaru was slowly backing up. His back hit the trunk of a tree much quicker then he would have liked. Chouji started taking huge steps closer to Shikamaru, fist ready for the big target he saw on Shikamaru's head. Deep holes were left in the ground wherever he stepped. He was mad, and maybe a bit madder then he usually was, which was a bad thing was for Shikamaru.

Shikamaru didn't want to fight Chouji, but at the same time he didn't want to become a pancake. He quickly put his fingers into a tight sign of the ram and stopped Chouji from moving. The Shadow Imitation Technique was always a good way of stopping someone, however it only made Chouji angrier.

"You cut it out Shikamaru!" he yelled, franticly trying to move his fist closer to Shikamaru.

Ino braided her hair once more and went to calm Chouji down. Normally Asuma was the one to calm him down, but he wasn't here right now, and Ino wouldn't want him to think she was lazy, unlike a certain person she knew. Shikamaru was keeping his fists to the ground, Chouji copying and making a huge hole in the ground. One look at Ino and he was back to normal, waiting patiently for Shikamaru to lift the jutsu.

Shikamaru was puzzled. Since when did Chouji fall for Ino's appearances? Oh well, it didn't really matter as long as he was done trying to make Shikamaru pancakes, he was fine with it. Ino winked at him and took Chouji off to the side to talk after he could move on his own again, leaving Shikamaru to stare. A moment later he heard voices just over to the left. They weren't the voices of Sasuke, Sakura or Naruto, so they had too be enemies.

"_This is perfect. I don't even have to let them know where I am,_" he though with delight.

Forming the ram again, he felt his jutsu catch hold of 3 people, all of which were jounin. Shikamaru felt a rock drop in his stomach. Cloud ninja, and Ino and Chouji were off somewhere else.

"_How troublesome_," he thought with a sigh. "_I guess I have no chose though. Sorry father, but I have to use that jutsu you taught me now._"

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Sasuke was amazed. He didn't think Naruto could go this fast, let alone know the way to Kumo without a map. Sakura was equally surprised, even though she already knew Naruto could go that fast. When they were inside of the village gates, Naruto stopped and grinned at his two team mates.

"Told you," he said triumphantly.

"So you know the way to Kumo without taking the path," Sasuke commented. "Big deal. Do you know the way to the Raikage's building?"

Naruto's grinned dropped and turned into a frown. Why did Sasuke always have to ruin things for him? Sakura looked around and spotted the big building surrounded in what she assumed to be an artists idea of clouds.

"It's over there," she said, purposely pointing in the wrong direction.

Naruto nodded and headed off in that direction without even a backwards glance at the other two teenagers heading the opposite way towards the real building. It took him a moment to realize the trick and begin jumping towards them.

Inside the building, everyone seemed to be glaring at the three of them, eyeing them and judging how strong they might be. Sakura had been inside almost all of the Kage offices, so she led the way to the Raikage. Naruto followed her silently, trying to figure out how she could remember all the turns they were taking, and all of the doors that needed special jutsu to open them. Sasuke remained his normal posture.

About five minutes later they finally got to the Raikage's office door. Sakura knocked in some sort of pattern and was told by a ruff voice to enter. The room was pretty small, only about the size of Naruto's room in his apartment. A wrinkled old woman sat in a chair on the other side of a desk piled with paper and scrolls. Sasuke was able to relate it to Tsunade's desk area before the Raikage spoke up.

"Why and how are you nosy kids in this office?" she asked, putting the hat with the symbol of lightning on.

"We are here of an important matter, dealing with the treaty that both the country of Fire signed as well as the country of Lightning," Sakura explained, bowing a tiny bit lower with every word.

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, pointing a finger at her. "You've got ninja after our village, how come?"

The old women gave them all a funny look before she stood up. Sasuke could see greed in her eyes, and that was never a good thing when you were in power. She eyed him before she walked around the three of them, putting her hands behind her back and keeping an eye on them as she walked.

"You do know what happens every one-hundred years, don't you?" she asked, giving Sasuke a questionable look. "The Element Users appear, and I've gotten word that the Element User for the country of Lightning is the weakest this year. I'm simply fixing that."

"That gives you no right no attack our village," Sasuke said.

"And what are you brats going to do about it?" the Raikage teased, and Sasuke tensed his shoulders for battle.

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Ino and Chouji came back from their little talk to find blood splattered everywhere. Three cloud ninja lay in a kind of circle and Shikamaru lay in the middle of them. Ino rushed over to him and checked his pulse. Surprised, she stood up and bumped into Chouji. His face was partly hidden behind a bag of chips, but his eyes were visible, eyebrows raised.

"What'd he do?" he asked through a mouthful of chips.

Ino took a deep breath to calm herself. "I don't know, but his pulse is really fast, way faster then it should be for unconsciousness."

Chouji looked over at the knocked out Shikamaru, face dotted with blood. He walked over to him and looked at his fingers.

"_His_ _father told him not to use it, along with Asuma-sensei,_" he thought. "_It's a special Nara technique, but he could have just called for help._"

"I'll carry him," he offered with a shrug.

Ino looked up at him in surprise. He attempted a smile as he bent over to hoist Shikamaru's limp body over his shoulders. Ino nodded. Chouji would be serious for the most part from here on out. She turned and started down the path towards Kumo, praying they wouldn't run into anymore cloud ninja along the way.


	13. Trap Alert

Yay! Chapter 13 is here!

I did my best to make this one interesting, and I think I actually was able to make it longer.

It has come to my attention that I haven't done a disclaimer. I'll do that now:

Note: I do **NOT** own Naruto. All I own is the plot, the Element Users, and the many characters I've made up for this fan-fiction.

Just one more thing: I have no idea whether the Raikage is a girl or not orwhether he/she is old or not. I just made it up as I went along, so if we ever find out about the Raikage, I apologize.

Enjoy chapter 13!

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**Chapter 13:**

Trap Alert

Kakashi undid the last of the knot that was holding him to the trunk of a tree, took off the blindfold and got up extra slowly. He looked around, not sensing any enemies but wanting to make sure just in case. Pakkun was gone and the man that had left him there was gone as well.

"_Shoot, now what am I going to do?_" he though franticly. "_Where are Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto? And Pakkun, what did he do to him?_"

He started off down the closest path, not even checking to see why there were three ninja in a circle and blood everywhere. All he cared about was finding his squad. The gates of Kumo were only a couple of kilometres away when he ran into Asuma.

"Where are you to in such a hurry?" he asked.

Asuma was standing in the middle of the path, cigarette lit as usual. His hands were in his pockets and he looked as if he was walking somewhere before Kakashi stopped.

"I have to find my group," Kakashi said through a pant. "What are you doing way out here?"

"Chouji and I were coming back from our mission, but a ninja of the Hidden Cloud Village attacked us," Asuma explained. "We were separated, and now I have no clue where he is. I'm hoping he went back to Konoha."

Kakashi didn't have the oxygen to think about it. He had to find his squad, Sasuke at the least. It was hard enough when he wasn't there, but if he lost all three of them, he didn't know how he'd cope with life. Asuma stared at him and sighed. He hated to see Kakashi like that.

"I'll come with you," he said with a sigh a moment later.

"Really?" Kakashi asked, astonished.

"Well, knowing Chouji, if he had found them, he would have gone with them," Asuma said with a shrug.

"Or tricked into it…"

Kakashi's words before they started down the path seemed so far away, yet so true.

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Shikamaru opened his eyes slowly at first, and then widened them when he realized what had happened. He groaned and tried to turn over, being stopped by Chouji's arms. Chouji smiled down at him and yelled something Shikamaru couldn't hear over to Ino. He was placed on the ground as Ino rushed over and Chouji leaned over him.

"How're you feeling?" Ino asked.

"_Well let's look at it way: I can't move, I don't have any chakra left, I have a splitting pain throughout by body and I don't have a shadow at the moment,"_ Shikamaru thought sarcastically. All that ended up coming out of his mouth was another groan.

"What did you do?" she asked, not really expecting an answer.

"It's the Nara clan's ultimate and most deadly move," Chouji explained for Shikamaru. "You start with the Shadow Imitation Technique on at least three or more people and you add a twist."

Ino leaned in closer to hear better, and Shikamaru desperately wished he hadn't told Chouji.

"You do something to make it so you move each person individually and you put them into a circle. I don't really know what happens, but from what I've heard when he's practicing, there's a big explosion from the shadows."

Shikamaru tried to sit up, but the pain in his side stopped him from going any further than halfway. Ino saw his pain and did the best medical jutsu she knew, easing the pain enough for him to walk on his own. Shikamaru stared at her.

"I didn't know you knew medical jutsu," he said, surprised not to feel pain anymore.

Ino blushed. "Sakura taught me a thing or two."

Shikamaru nodded, watching his shadow slowly reform. Chouji pulled out another bag of chips and started munching, seeing the time to be serious was over. Ino broke the silence.

"Let's get going," she exclaimed. "We have to catch up with Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto."

The two boys nodded and followed her down the path to Kumo.

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Naruto just barely dodged the kunai aimed for his throat, and in turn just missed the purple flash above his eyes. Sakura was trying her best to keep the door shut to others that were listening to the battle; however one person had gotten through. Now it was two one two: the Raikage and her right handed jounin verses Naruto and Sasuke.

Sasuke jumped onto the ceiling and threw a few explosive notes in different directions. Then he followed the one that exploded a greenish colour, and skimmed the vest of the jounin in the room. Sasuke looked around in confusion before he jumped over to where Sakura was. She looked at him curiously as he applied a sealing note to the door.

"We could use your help now," he added before he rushed back into the smoke that had been creating by the explosive notes and Naruto.

Sakura blinked. When did Sasuke get a sealing note? She decided it didn't matter, and then cleared the smoke, revealing the situation her team mates were in. Naruto was on the ground, held down by the neck by the Raikage and Sasuke was chasing and being chased by the other jounin. Naruto was the one that needed the most help right now however.

She gathered chakra in her leg and kicked down on the ground, hard. Something like an earthquake rush forward, toward Naruto and the Raikage. She jumped out of the way just in time, leaving Naruto to receive the blow. Sakura gasped slightly before she regained her footing. Naruto was always using clones, and she knew that. In fact, there probably wasn't even a need for her to do that. Even so, it scared the Raikage a little bit, and it had given the real Naruto an opportunity to smash her into the ground.

Naruto jumped down from his hiding place in the rafters of the building and had a rasengan ready in his hand. The jounin lay somewhere off to the side of the desk, courtesy of Sasuke. All three of them were overtop of the old women, and she wasn't going to get up any time soon. Naruto was using the rasengan as a threat, saying that if she got up, he let her have it. Sakura frowned. She didn't think kages were that weak.

"Answer it straight," Naruto was saying. "You didn't answer it properly last time. Why are you after Konoha?"

"Isn't it obvious?" she replied with a grin. "The Element Users; I want the one of the Country of Fire. That one combined with the one that we have here somewhere will put the Village Hidden in the Clouds on top of the other countries."

Sakura's heart fell. Again with the Element Users? What was with these people? Naruto wasn't looking to happy about this either, his face was turning red with anger and his hand with the rasengan was shaking. Sasuke just stood there, the words not really having an effect on him. Inside it was, but he didn't dare show it, not with the Raikage so close. Naruto was the one who exploded.

"You mean old hag!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "They might have some sort of special powers, but they're still human!"

"What are you going to do about it?" the old women asked.

"I'll kill you!"

"Naruto, you can't kill the Raikage, it's against the law!" Sakura shouted.

"I dare you to try little boy."

"Just watch me!"

"Don't get carried away Naruto." Sasuke's voice.

"She doesn't care if someone is human or beast, it doesn't make a difference to her. All she cares about it power."

"That's no reason to threaten the Kage for the Hidden Village of Lightning."

"Oh, I'm not threatening"

There was the loudest sound anyone could imagine, but once the smoke cleared, there wasn't anything or anyone there.

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Kakashi looked up and could just barely see the top of the Raikage's office building. However, the top had been completely blown off, and all that was there was the end of the second-to-the-top floor. Asuma stopped and looked up to the building as well, but quickly averted his gaze. He didn't want to look at; he knew it was because of ninja from Konoha.

"Now what do we do?" he asked.

Kakashi just stared at the empty part in the sky where the rest of the building should be. Did a member of his group really do that? He finally turned his gaze to Asuma.

"I don't know…" he began. "We should probably go make sure they're ok, but we shouldn't let ourselves be seen."

"But you've already been seen," a voice said from behind them.

They both turned around to see another Kakashi balanced on the branch they had just jumped off of. Asuma looked from the Kakashi beside him to the Kakashi on the branch and back again. He couldn't make up his mind which one was which. The

Kakashi on the branch grinned and was surrounded in a puff of smoke. When it cleared, a tall man stood in the way. He had a beard of reddish-brownish hair, along with the head of hair to go with it. His forehead protector was tied around his ankle, and Kakashi could just make out the symbol of the Hidden Cloud Village. Asuma gasped slightly.

"You're the person that attacked me and Chouji!" he shouted, pointing at the skinny man.

"Yup," he replied, crossing his arms and getting into a relaxed position.

Asuma's eyes flared. "Where is he?"

"I sent him on a mission," the man said. "As the man standing beside you."

"Where's my group?" Kakashi asked angrily, starting to catch on. "My dog and a blonde boy in orange, a girl with pink hair and a raven-haired boy."

"I know their names," the man said, looking at his nails. "Pakkun, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke. I sent them on the mission as well. Well, not the dog. I let the dog go poof."

"What is this 'mission'?" Asuma asked, reaching the boiling point. "Where did you send them?"

"Well," the man began. "The fat one, Chouji, his team mates showed up. That Shikamaru person and that girl Ino. I sent them on it too. Anyway, I sent them to Kumo where there's supposed to be an ambush waiting at the south exit."

"Not that I'm happy with this, but why at the south exit?" Kakashi inquired. "Wouldn't you put it at the main gates?"

The skinny man pointed a bony finger at the empty part in the sky where Kakashi had been staring a minute ago.

"That's why."

A gear in Kakashi's mind clicked, and all the information fell into place. He sped off toward the south exit, not even lifting a finger to help Asuma kick the guy's butt.

"_Please make it in time,_" Kakashi pleaded. "_If anything, let them realize this one their own, but don't let them fall into the perfectly placed plan._"

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Shikamaru couldn't take his eyes off it. One minute it had minute, and gone the next in a bang and explosion. Ino looked up to where he was looking and stared, not really knowing what she was suppose to be looking at. Chouji just sat on the ground and ate another bag of chips, taking note that he only had a couple more bags left.

"What're you looking at?" Ino finally asked.

"The top of that building," he answered, still staring. "It exploded…"

Ino looked at him, then back up to the sky. How could something just explode?

"Look over there guys," Chouji said, pointing toward the path they had just come from.

Dust was being kicked up at an alarming rate, as if someone were running. Shikamaru squinted, and only just barely had time to get out of the way of a rushing Kakashi.

"Whoa, hey, Kakashi, stop!" Ino shouted.

Kakashi turned around to face the younger people. Chouji looked fine, and Shikamaru and Ino looked ok as well. That was good; Asuma would probably blame him if they weren't.

"What are you guys doing here?" he asked, hoping they would get the hint and get back to Konoha.

"You sent us on this troublesome mission, remember?" Shikamaru said, starting to get suspicious.

Kakashi sighed. "That wasn't me, that was a cloud ninja trying to get you guys to fall into a trap."

Ino eyed him. How was she supposed to trust him? She didn't know him well enough to ask him a question, but she did know him well enough to know that it seemed a lot like him. She sighed, figuring trusting him was her only real option she had until she found Sakura.

"Where's Sakura?" she asked.

Kakashi looked at the ground. "Right now, she's heading into a trap set up by the Cloud ninja. I'm on my way to stop her, Sasuke and Naruto. Are you guys coming?"

The three of them looked at each other. They still didn't know if they could trust him, but if their friends were in danger, there was only one answer.

"Yes."

And with that, the four of them were off, racing off to stop a trap from springing on their comrades. Little did they know, that would lead them into an even bigger trap.


	14. A Sneaky Kage

Ok, I'm really sorry this one took so long, but when I went over my first version, it was pretty cheesy. So... yeah, here's Chapter 14

**Note**: I don't own Naruto, or any of the characters. All I own is my plot, the Element Users,and the many characters I havemade up

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**Chapter 14:**

A Sneaky Kage

Before the smoke had even cleared properly, Sakura looked around the room quickly before she joined her team mates in running out of the village. She didn't want any evidence, nor any questions about what had just happened. She herself didn't know exactly what just happened; Sasuke had seen everything and knew everything that had happened, but he wasn't talking, or at least wasn't saying anything without a riddle involved. Figures.

When she got to them, she had already transformed into a henge. Her hair was a bit lighter than Naruto's normal hair colour, and she was wearing a sky blue dress, much like her old red one. Her medical apron had disappeared from sight, and her nails were painted a light purple.

Naruto wasn't very good at making effective henge still. He had wanted to use the sexy jutsu, but Sasuke refused to go anywhere with him like that. Thus, he came up with a different one, a **very** different one. He was a boy (thank goodness) with greenish hair that covered one eye, sort of like Tayuya's. He wore shades and was dressed in a suit much like his other one except it was blue. Sakura rolled her eyes at him as he grinned at her.

Sasuke had done a lot of appearance changing when he was with Orochimaru. In fact, he didn't even use a henge. He had pulled his hair out of the pony it had been in that had reached to the center of his back and now had his blue hair about the length of Sakura's. His navy blue shirt had been replaced with a deep army green colour turtle neck that didn't have the Uchiha crest on it. His pants were the same colour, but they were real pants, not those shorts he was wearing before. He had even somehow managed to change his eye colour to a turquoise. That part must've been a henge, shouldn't it?

"What took you?" Naruto asked.

"You left a clump of your hair idiot," Sakura replied, holding up a bag with a bit of yellow hair. "That could've have been tracked back to Konoha, and then we would be in big trouble."

Naruto snatch the bag from her and did his best impression of Sasuke in a bad mood, which got him a smack upside the head.

"Don't," was all Sasuke said.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and Sakura stifled a giggle. People around them looked at them suspiciously, giving Naruto odd looks. Sasuke looked at them and turned back to Sakura.

"I don't think we should do this," he said. "We should just go back to Konoha and find the real Kakashi-sensei, or tell Hokage-sama."

"If you're going to suggest things, tell us what your reasons are," Naruto growled.

"I kind of have to agree with Naruto on this one Sasuke," Sakura sighed. "If you're hiding something, you really should tell us."

Sasuke gave out an exasperated sigh. The next moment, he was gone in a puff of smoke. Naruto looked around furiously, getting more strange looks.

"Why'd he do that?" he asked Sakura.

She shrugged. "If you're asking me why he's like that, then you're even dumber then you seem."

Naruto glared at her, and then followed her to the south gate. That was the plan: to exit the village, head off the island north of the Lightening country and stay there for a day or two. That way, no one could blame them for the Raikage's death. Or so it seemed. Sasuke had said repeatedly that what happened didn't really happen, and had frustrated Naruto to no end with his riddles. Even Sakura had started to get annoyed. They both had no idea where he was now, only could hope he was at the north island waiting for them.

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Ino was starting to fall behind Chouji. She was panting harder than him, yet he still managed to snack on a bag of chips.

"_No way he's stronger than me_," she thought. "_I mean, as much as he denies it, he's fat. Well, I guess he would have more stamina than me from eating so much, but still_."

Shikamaru looked behind him and yelled at Kakashi that they were going to take a brake. Kakashi glared at him before coming to a stop. Ino was relived at the brake. Chouji immediately sat down and took out another bag to replace the empty one. Kakashi stood perched on a branch eagerly awaiting the brake to end. Shikamaru walked over to Ino and patted her on the back. She fell to the ground and lay on her back, looking up at Shikamaru and panting heavily. He smiled down at her slightly.

"For once… I'll agree with you…" she said through her heavy breaths. "Going with Kakashi… is a lot of work…"

Shikamaru chuckled. "You mean troublesome."

Chouji looked at his other two team mates and was almost ashamed. He was the reason that they hadn't been friends for the beginning part of their group-man ship. Ino had been frustrated that she had Chouji as a group member, and since Shikamaru stood up for Chouji, he had gotten the bad mood treatment from her as well. He reached into his bag and felt around. One more bag left. He sighed and took that out, eating as slowly as he possibly could, which wasn't very slow at all.

Kakashi started to tap his foot as he became more and more impatient. His squad was about to fall into a trap set up by the Raikage herself, and they could just lay there? The thought infuriated him even more, and just when he was about shout at them to get going, Sasuke appeared in front of him.

Startled, Kakashi lost his footing, and found himself hanging upside down.

"Hey, Sasuke! What are you doing here?" Shikamaru yelled up to him.

"And why do you look different?" Ino asked, eyeing him.

"Naruto and Sakura don't understand they're heading into a trap," Sasuke explained.

"If you can tell, why don't you tell them?" Chouji asked.

"Because all the villagers know about it, so I can't just go blabbing about something like that in front of them."

"The villagers know?" Kakashi asked, jumping onto a different branch than the one Sasuke was on.

Sasuke nodded. "The Raikage tricked Naruto into thinking that he killed her, when really she teleported to the south gate, where a trap is set up for Sakura and Naruto."

Kakashi thought about it. "And how do you know this?"

"During the battle in the office, I had my Sharingan activated, but used a genjutsu to hid it."

Ino got up off the ground and brushed herself off. Chouji got up slowly and looked at Kakashi. He didn't look too happy, but then again, who could tell? Shikamaru eyed Sasuke; he never really liked the guy, and he still didn't, but he knew him well enough to know when he was exaggerating and when he wasn't.

'Well I say we go help them," Shikamaru said with a sigh. "It will be troublesome if the Raikage is involved, but if we can save our friends, it will be worth it."

"I agree!" Ino chimed in.

"Me too," Chouji agreed gruffly.

"Lead the way Sasuke," Kakashi ordered, happy that the brake was over.

Sasuke nodded and jumped down onto the path. Kakashi jumped down as well, and they were off again, taking a detour to the right to get to the south gate quicker. Sasuke made sure his pace was appropriate so as not to tire out anyone.

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"How big _is_ this village?" Naruto complained.

Sakura rolled her eyes. They had only been walking for about a minute before he had started to complain. The gate was in view now, and Sakura was sure they would be out of Kumo in another minute. All the people had left the streets now; in fact, there wasn't a single living creature in sight.

"Naruto, do you think something is wrong?" she asked him.

Naruto frowned. "I don't, but Kyuubi thinks so."

Sakura shuddered. "I thought I told you not to talk to that thing anymore."

"I can't help it! Not talking to it is like not thinking!"

"Well it's not like you do that anyway."

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Look there! See the gates now?"

Naruto shaded his eyes from the sun with his hand and squinted in the direction Sakura was pointing, completely forgetting he had sun-glasses on. He could see the gates just fine, but for a moment, he thought he had seen something else, something that shouldn't be there. It had only been there for a second, and the next it was gone. He shrugged.

"Yeah, but what's your point?"

Sakura was disappointed. He hadn't seen what she had seen, that slight shimmer of purple. Must've been her imagination.

"Ummm… Sakura, little help here?"

His voice brought her back to reality, although she didn't like it. They were surrounded by cloud ninja, the Raikage just off to the side.

"So, you two are here, where's the one that knows all about the Element Users?" she asked through a grin.

"If you're wondering where Sasuke is, forget it lady!" Naruto yelled, hands crunched up into fists.

"That's a shame," the old women said, shaking her head. "I would've let you guys go if you had told me, but since you're just so stubborn…"

She never finished. She just stood there, head down. The jounin looked around and at her, wondering what was going on.

"Raikage-sama," one of them dared.

She shook her head. "Sorry about that, now where was I?"

Sakura frowned. How was she able to do that without the Raikage sensing her?

"You were about to decide the punishment of these youngsters," the same jounin told her.

"Right, I knew that," she said. "Alright, I sentence you to go back to Konoha and never come back!"

Naruto almost fell over. "Not that I'm asking for a worse punishment, but what kind of sentence is that?"

"All of you get going. I need to talk to these children alone."

"Yes." And then they were gone.

A moment passed before Sakura started shouting.

"Ino, how could you! She's the Raikage!"

The old women shrugged. "Shikamaru saw it as a better idea than having to fight her."

Naruto blinked. "Ino?"

The Raikage giggled, sending shivers up the other two's spines.

"Yup. You guys can come out now!"

A little bit farther in the forest, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kakashi and Sasuke came out of hiding and ran up to a stunned Naruto.

"Sasuke, what happened to the plan?" Sakura ask the raven-haired teen, who had changed back to his normal appearance.

"Our plan fell perfectly into the Raikage's plan," Sasuke explained through a sigh. "But even so, I couldn't have told you guys straight because the villagers also knew about this plan."

Sakura let out a little 'oh'. That explained it, why he was using riddles, and why he had disappeared. She undid the henge and Naruto followed suit. Chouji's scream broke the silence.

"It can't be! No, no, no, no, NO!" he wailed, clutching his head and running in circles.

Everyone stared at him, watching him burn a circle into the ground. They all found it rather amusing. At last he sat on the ground and, still clutching his head, started to cry.

"Chouji, everything ok?" Shikamaru asked cautiously.

"NOOOO," Chouji wailed.

Shikamaru stepped back, shaking his head and muttering something about troublesome outbreaks. Sakura stepped in after him.

"Chouji, what's wrong?"

"They're gone!" he cried.

"For goodness sakes Chouji, what's going on?" Ino/Raikage shouted.

"No more, no more!" he wept.

Sasuke walked up to him and punched him on the head.

"Tell us what's wrong or else."

Chouji whimpered. "No… more…snacks…"

Everyone glared at him. Kakashi sighed and took out a copy of 'Come, Come Paradise' to hide his face, though that was technically already done for him. When he sensed that danger to Chouji was about to strike, he put the book away and cleared his throat.

"Well, Ino, you can either take the Raikage's body back to Konoha with us, or leave her here, your choice," he said to her.

Ino/Raikage put her index finger up to her chin and thought about it for a moment.

"I think I'll just leave her here," she said as she crossed her fingers into a cancellation hand sign.

Then her body (or the Raikage's body) flopped onto the ground and the real Ino stirred in the bush off to the left. She got up, brushed herself off and joined her comrades.

"Right, umm… so, we need to inform the Hokage about this right away," Kakashi explained. "I'm sure you all can get back on your own, so… Go."

Everyone went their separate ways, all heading to the Hokage's office building. Far behind them, the Raikage stirred, getting up slowly and going over the rest of her evil plan.


	15. The Memories Return

Hello everyone! Sorry this took so long. I was going to stop it 5 pages (on microsoft word) in, but that was way to short, so I typed out 6 more pages and relized I should end it. Silly me!

Also, to anyone that likes Gai as a favourite character, you have to admit the guy screams out to be made fun of, so don't get after me about it.

There are some hints of some pairings that I'm not completely sure of yet in this chapter along with one of Sasuke's biggest secrets (not about the Element Users though. I'll torture you people about it some more before that happens ) The entirerty of the secret will be explained fulling in the chapter after this.

Enjoy!

**NOTE**: I own nothing of this fan-fiction except the plot, the Element Users, and the many characters I have made up.

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Chapter 15:

The Memories Return

"YOU DID WHAT!"

Tsunade was going to lose her voice at this rate. Shikamaru was sure Gaara was hearing it loud and clear, even if he was in Suna. Shizune had it easy; she had special ear-plugs that blocked out Tsunade's angry rampages, only available to shinobi that worked in the office. Naruto had tried to get some for himself, but he couldn't find any, and ripping them out of someone's ears was just plain rude. Sakura was use to these kinds of things by now, thus, she was happily dreaming of other things while the others listened to the older women's rants.

"I told you to drive the cloud ninja back, not go after the Raikage! What were you thinking Naruto?"

"You know, in my own defence, Sakura and Sasuke were there too."

"Oh?"

She looked over at Sakura, humming some sort of tune innocently. Realizing Tsunade had stopped yelling, she quickly put away the headphones in her ears and pretended that she had been listening to her the whole time. Sasuke wasn't even moving. Tsunade leaned over to get a better look at him, squinting. She sighed.

"I had seen that Chouji and Ino had changed, but I didn't notice he had done it as well," she muttered.

"Did what?" Naruto asked, staring at the unmoving bodies of Chouji, Ino, and Sasuke.

"Aw man, I should have thought of that," Shikamaru complained, slapping the palm of his hand to his forehead. "They used a replacement technique. I could've used that and skipped this troublesome lecture altogether."

Tsunade sighed. She tapped the foreheads of the three replacements, turning them back into what they really were. Ino's turned into a pile of flowers, Chouji's into all the bags from his snacks and Sasuke's into a blaze of fire, which disappeared in a second. She sighed again and turned back to her desk, or what was supposed to be her desk. Naruto thought it was more of a clutter-zone than a working area. Never the less, she used it as a desk, sometimes. She went over to it and opened a drawer, pulling out a sort of triangular object.

"I have to go to Kumo and clear up some things now," she explained, putting on what was the Hokage's hat. "Shizune is in charge while I'm gone and since the others aren't here, you can tell them this. That ok with you guys?"

Sakura nodded along with Shikamaru but Naruto was just staring, staring at the symbol of fire on the Hokage's hat. Memories flooded his mind: Kohaku and that mini polar bear, that weird medallion thingy Sasuke had, Kora and that Imara person, Sasuke's connection to them, all of that was coming back to him now. The symbol on the medallion, it was the same symbol on the Hokage's hat, the kanji for fire.

"Naruto, are you ok?" Sakura asked, her voice sounding far off.

Naruto shook his head to clear his mind. He could bother Sasuke about it later but not when Sakura was around. That would only cause Sasuke to get mad at him, and he really didn't need that.

"I'm fine," he lied. "Where'd Sasuke go?"

"He goes places sometimes," Shikamaru sighed before Sakura could answer. "If he was on my team, Asuma would kill him for leaving all the time. It's troublesome, but that's the way it is."

"Umm, right. Ok, I'm going to find Kakashi-sensei, Sakura, are you coming?" Naruto asked.

Sakura nodded and ran out of the room, closely followed by the blonde. Shikamaru stood there looking over his shoulder at the door. When Tsunade cleared her throat, he snapped out of his daze and faced her lazily.

"Ino and Chouji are with Asuma right now," she said. "They're helping put up the decorations for the new year's party in your guys' old academy classroom. I want you to go and help them."

"Fine," Shikamaru said lazily. "Do we have to attend?"

"Yes," she replied, heading out the door.

As she walked down the hall, she could hear Shikamaru yell something about parties being a troublesome excuse for a way to get to know each other better.

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"Oh, there you are Naruto, Sakura," Kakashi commented. "So for once I'm not the late one."

Kakashi had one foot on a boulder in the ground and was shielding his eyes, (or in his case eye) from the sun with his hand. Beside him, Gai was copying his greatest rival, of course in the stupidest manner a grown man could achieve. Behind the two, Lee was practicing his kicking on a tree, and had almost cut the poor plant down. Neji was sitting in the shade under a tree re-bandaging his arm, Tenten was sitting against that same tree reading a book and Sasuke was lying on the tree branch, arms behind his head as a pillow. Sakura turned to Naruto and stuck her tongue out at him.

"I told you we were suppose to meet at training area 23," she told him in a mocking tone.

"It's not like I meant to forget," Naruto countered.

"That's enough you two," Gai said, stepping down from the boulder and walking over to the fighting two. "We didn't all come out here for nothing. We're all training together, remember?"

"All we could've started already if you two had been here earlier," Neji said, finishing up his bandaging.

Naruto and Sakura pouted. Training with Gai's squad wasn't all that fun, especially since they were a year ahead of them. Lee was a jounin for goodness sakes, and Tenten and Neji were Chuunin but Kakashi insisted on this training. Sasuke was usually the only one that could beat one of them, but he was always up against Lee so he only won about two out of five times. Sakura had no luck with Tenten and Naruto was never able to beat Neji since the first Chuunin exam. Kakashi and Gai were still even however, but they were coming up with the lamest challenges. Once, they had even had a musical challenge. The younger ones had nearly gone deaf from the noise. Neji got up off the ground and turned around so he was facing up at Sasuke.

"Uchiha, I challenge you," he said, pointing at Sasuke.

"Fine," came the muttered reply.

Neji's frowned, obviously taken aback from Sasuke's quick response. "But we can only use the Byakugan, no weapons or other techniques."

Sasuke looked down at Neji and then at Kakashi. His sensei shrugged and Sasuke jumped down from the tree and faced Neji.

"I don't know how you found out, but I accept," Sasuke told him, putting his hands in his pockets and making Neji mad.

Naruto flinched. It was kind of his fault Neji knew about it. He was bragging about it to him after he had lost, again. After that Neji had gone on about all the Byakugan moves he knew and that Sasuke wouldn't be able to copy them all. Naruto smiled slyly. Now Neji would see how strong Sasuke had become with his Sharingan.

"All right! You two can fight over there," Gai said, pointing to a clearing shaped as a circle. "And remember, do the best your youthfulness can do!"

"We didn't need to hear the youthfulness part Gai-sensei," Tenten sighed, closing her book and walking over to a tree closer to the clearing. "We're 15 and 14 now, and I for one expect to be treated as a teenager now, not a child like you did when we were 13 and 12."

"Kakashi! Your cool and hip antics have rubbed off on my student! How did you do it?" Gai wailed.

Kakashi took out his copy of 'Come, Come Paradise' and began reading from where he left off while Gai went on and on about how very neat and 'in' his behaviour was. Sasuke and Neji stared at each other, turned away and walked toward the chosen place for their battle. Naruto and Sakura looked over at each other and giggled. Finally Neji could taste the bitterness of defeat once more, and they were completely sure of the battle's outcome.

Lee was counting to himself, about six more numbers away from reaching two-hundred and fifty. Sakura could see a trickle of blood run down from his legs, and immediately felt sorry for him. She forgot about him not being able to use nin-jutsu and gen-jutsu, but when he trained his tai-jutsu skills, she always remembered that day when he had told her. She had already known, but his telling her directly was a sign of deep love, one that she hadn't thought he had felt for her. At the moment, she was torn between Sasuke and Lee, and Sasuke's attitude was letting Lee get ahead.

Naruto was in the same situation between Sakura and Hinata. Hinata had actually come to him when Naruto was training with Jiraiya one day, out in the middle of no where, alone, just to tell him that she had always liked him and now that they were older she would like to take that crush and turn it into a relationship. A couple seconds after that she after that she had fainted, but she had gotten her point across and now Naruto was trying to look inside himself and see which one he loved more. The Kyuubi had helped there, and Sakura was the one for him, yet Hinata's confession had left him uncertain. He was almost sure that he would go for Hinata, but anything could happen. Besides, Sakura had Lee looking out for her, and as much as Sasuke wouldn't admit it, he had a thing for her too, however little it may be.

Just then, Lee reached his goal and came running over to Sakura, thus sending him over to Naruto as well.

"Sakura, my love! I have beaten a tree until it has cut in half. This is but a small show of my determination to win you over. Do you not think this is wonderful?"

"_Ok_," Sakura thought, trying to hide her expression. "_So he's nice, he's strong and he likes me, but he obviously doesn't know what 'keeping a secret relation' means at all! He could've at least waited until Naruto was somewhere else!_"

Naruto snickered. At least Hinata was shy enough to keep things a secret. In fact, he hadn't seen her ever since. That's Hinata for you though. While Sakura was trying to get Lee to remember to keep things a secret in a way that he would understand, Sasuke and Neji were ready to go.

Gai was behind Neji telling him something about youthfulness that Neji was totally tuned out to while Kakashi was talking to Sasuke. That was the way their battles were set up; both ninja were reminded not to kill the other and were given encouraging words (which were normally ignored) before and after the battle had ended. That way, neither one felt like they had really lost, or at least that was the way it was _suppose_ to work. Naruto always went stomping off after the lost, Sakura always went to sit under a tree and tried not to let 'inner Sakura's' thoughts be said out loud and Sasuke always, win or lose', disappeared for the rest of the day. Kakashi and Gai were running out of challenges for each other and left as soon as about two were done. The way things played out, everyone went home after you had fought at least once.

"I'll remind you again, Uchiha," Neji started, pointing at the one-year-younger boy across from him. "No weapons or other techniques. The only thing we can use is Byakugan moves."

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke replied, nodded his head as if he were about to fall asleep any second. "I heard you the first time, did you not hear yourself?"

"Why you…"

"Neji, calm down!" Tenten shouted from a little ways behind him. "Just because you know you're going to beat him, doesn't mean you can lose your cool!"

"Sasuke won't lose to a white-eyed freak like Neji, Tenten!" Sakura yelled from the other side of the 'field'.

Naruto leaned into Sakura so only she could hear, and whispered, "Hinata was white eyes too you know, and Sasuke will as well in a few seconds."

Sakura bit her lip and looked over at Sasuke. Judging from his stance, (example, arms crossed, eyes, drooping, relaxed muscles) he had already determined Neji's strength and knew exactly what to do. Sakura let out the air she had been holding. He would be fine, so long as he was his normal self, not that that would change any time soon.

"_Oh great_," she thought. "_Now I'm starting to not make any sense, even to myself_."

"You two ready?" Kakashi asked, signalling for Sasuke and Neji to step up. "Alright. Get ready, BEGIN."

And with that, a battle in which everyone was sure one person or the other would win began; Sasuke VS Neji.


	16. Sasuke VS Neji

Noooo! In my attempt to make everything clear in this chapter I ended up making it way too long! AHHHH! _runs off into the forest and bonks head against a tree_ Now, where was I? Oh yes, the chapter. I'm **really, Really, REally, REAlly, REALly, REALy, REALLY** sorry about that!

To Everyone That Bugged Me About It -I like my cliff hangers! It makes you want to read the next chapter! I'm not going to change that factunless I feel like it, so THERE! I win!

I'm sort of surprised only one person asked me about Sasuke and the Byakugan. Don't you people understand? THE BYAKUGAN IS ONLY USED BY HYUUGA AND SASUKE IS FROM UCHIHA!

Sorry about my attitude at the moment. I just finished the chapter and now I'm hyper. _goes and eats sugar_ and this isn't helping.

**Note**: Idon't own Naruto. All I own is the story plot, theElement Users and the many characters I have made up for thisfan-fiction. (like Kohaku, Kora, Imara so on...)

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**Chapter 16:**

**Sasuke VS Neji**

Begin!" Kakashi yelled as he jumped back to avoid getting in the way of the battle.

Neji started to form the seals of the Byakugan immediately and had the Byakugan ready in his eyes in a matter of seconds. Sasuke watched him, Sharingan activated. Having completed the seals, he got into the main family's fighting stance and chuckled.

"What's the matter Uchiha?" he mocked. "Can't use it like Uzumaki said you could?"

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto, red eyes piercing his soul, giving his glare a scarier look than it normally did. Naruto shrivelled back and copied Hinata's finger-poking-each-other thing that she does. Sasuke looked away from Naruto and back at Neji. The older youth was sniggering, watching Sasuke and thinking that Naruto had taken his bragging past the limits of being truthful. Sasuke sighed and stared at the Hyuuga before him.

"If you want to lose that quickly, I'll get it over with for you in a flash," he said smoothly. "Or else, you could just attack me, and win easily."

Neji winced slightly. His words were like glass, heavily stained with blood. All his senses were on all time active, reacting to even the slight breeze flowing through the air. He didn't move though, not even the littlest bit. Sasuke was up to something, but until he knew what it was, keeping a watchful eye would be the best move.

"Well then," Sasuke cooed. "Prepare to lose, Hyuuga."

Neji tensed as the Sharingan looked him over, studying his chakra. Wouldn't do him any good; he could tell Sasuke was just confirming his knowledge, and then he felt Sasuke's chakra gathering to his eyes. The three Sharingan commas in his eyes expanded, transforming the commas into three claw-like triangles and turning the inside dot red. Then they turned back into the commas, the inside one a slightly darker red than the Sharingan's original colour. Sasuke did the hand signs for the Byakugan and, in a matter of seconds, the veins around his eyes grew visible, the Byakugan look. Neji stepped back. He thought Uzumaki had been lying, he didn't think Sasuke could actually do it.

Sasuke opened his eyes, the colour a light-purplish-white. Around the middle, three black commas encircled the part where the colour turned a lavender-ish colour. Tenten gasped.

"How can he…" she started, Lee and Gai both in awe along with her. "He shouldn't be… what's going on?"

"The Sharingan shouldn't be able to copy bloodline techniques," Lee thought out loud. "So why does he have the Byakugan?"

"Well, Sasuke was a member of Uchiha's head family," Kakashi explained, laying down in the shade just behind Gai. "Therefore, he can use the higher jutsu of the Sharingan."

"I don't follow," Tenten said. "So there _is_ a way to copy the bloodline techniques?"

"If that is true, there really is no such this as a clan-bound jutsu," Lee said, again, thinking out loud.

Kakashi was about to answer when the two fighting began to move. They were only a little ways apart from each other, but they both had to jump back when their hands collided, a massive explosion of chakra erupting. Pushed back at the force of his own bloodline, Neji charged at Sasuke, who had gone into the main family's stance.

"_He shouldn't be able to do this_," he thought frantically. "_This is a bloodline limit, you can't copy it. Is this just a gen-jutsu? No, when we hit each other he definitely had been using Jyuuken. Shoot, what do I do now?_"

He aimed for Sasuke's head. If he hit, it would kill him but at this moment he didn't care. He thrust his hand forward, hitting nothing but air. Behind him, Sasuke spun around, hitting a few Tenketsu before Neji was able to turn around. Sasuke then jumped out of the way, fighting the instinct to throw a couple shuriken at him.

"_There's no doubt about it_," Neji thought, turning around to face Sasuke. "_He's even making sure he stays out of my range of Divination. Even if he's using the Byakugan, he doesn't have Hyuuga blood, so it should be wearing him down. That's when I'll make my move._"

"I still don't get it!" Lee cried, clinging onto Gai. "Gai-sensei, can you tell me what's going on?"

Gai frowned. He seriously didn't have the slightest clue what was going on, but Kakashi did; lying under that tree in the shade, like he didn't have a care in the world. He held back a river of tears. Why was Kakashi so cool all the time?

"You're not supposed to get it," Sakura said, coming from the rock Kakashi and Gai had stepped on. "I've learnt that about Sasuke. The more you try to understand him, the more complicated things get. If you accept that now, things will be a lot clearer. Even though I get it; I helped him get the hang of it, but I'm not saying anything."

She folded her arms and smiled slightly, watching the faces of Gai's team stare agape at her. Naruto looked at Sasuke and then back to her and grinned. He was in on the secret too, but he still didn't want to say anything. He had to gain more of Sasuke's trust so that when he confronted him about the medallion, he would trust him enough to tell Naruto the truth. Kakashi was already asleep however, so they didn't have to worry about him.

Sasuke felt a quirk in this chakra system. He felt dizzy, as if he was slowly dieing from blood loss. A second later and the feeling was gone, just the slightest bit of dizziness. He couldn't hold the Byakugan for too long or else risk losing the Sharingan all together. He had only taken a little bit of Hyuuga blood, just enough to last him a little over half an hour. He had to finish this quickly, before that time limit ran out preferably.

He ran at Neji, fully aware that he would try his Hakke. Sure enough, Neji went into his stance and charged at Sasuke as well. At the last minute, Sasuke spun, becoming a moving Kaiten. Neji only just missed getting hit, jumping into the air to avoid any other attacks. Sasuke stopped spinning and jumped after him, ramming two fingers into Neji's chest. They both fell to the ground, panting heavily. Neji coughed slightly, a trickle of blood running down his bottom lip. Sasuke's eyes were on the verge of rolling back into his head, snapping back into focus as Neji moved forward.

"_He's finally getting tired; now's my chance_."

"Sasuke, get a hold of yourself!" Naruto shouted, his hands cupped around his mouth like a mega-phone. "You can beat him, you just have to focus!"

"Kakashi, your student is showing a great amount of encouragement, you have taught him well!" Gai started going on about, not noticing that Kakashi was snoring by now. "Tenten, Lee, why aren't you cheering for your team mate? Cheer with me now! Go Neji! Go Neji! You can do it, go Neji!"

Lee joined in, chanting the annoying verse over and over while Tenten covered her ears as best she could.

Meanwhile, because of the sudden outburst of his name over and over, Neji had to balance himself or face the dirt. Sasuke took advantage of the time and jumped into the air, once again becoming a moving Kaiten. He smashed into the ground, a deep hole growing around him. Neji rolled out of the way, the Kaiten sphere grazing this right leg. The bandages flew into the sky, the wind taking hold them and fluttering them in the breeze There wasn't anything that needed bandaging there; it just gave Neji a sense of comfort. He swore under his breath and rolled out of the way of the still spinning Sasuke.

"_I'm running out of chakra_," he thought franticly. "_I knew it was a bad idea to use the Hakke so quickly_."

Sasuke slowed himself down and fought with himself to stay standing. He was just barley able to jump back from Neji's attack. Judging from the amount of chakra used in that last attack, Neji was losing his cool, a sign that he would attack recklessly until he hit, using up all his chakra as well as the other person's. Sasuke was running out of chakra as it was, but not entirely because of Neji. Keeping the Byakugan activated put a lot of stress on his body, as well as drained his chakra.

"_Two more attacks_," he calculated, dodging another attack from Neji. "_Not counting that one, two more attacks before we both run out of chakra._"

Neji could feel his chakra draining yet he really didn't care. All he cared about right now was giving Sasuke a piece of his mind, or ripping him into pieces, either worked for him. He hadn't landed a single attack on Sasuke yet, something that he could usually do. He swore under his breath, not just because of his battle, but also because of Lee and Gai; do those two ever shut up?

"Umm, Gai-sensei, I don't think that's helping Neji," Tenten tried to tell him but the cheers didn't stop, instead only got louder, forcing Tenten to plug her ears harder. "Sakura, do those ear-plug things work for idiots?"

Sakura shook her head as best she could with her hands over her ears and motioned for Naruto and Tenten to follow her else where, or at least somewhere Lee and Gai weren't. They walk about ten steps when a huge explosion erupted from the place Sasuke and Neji were battling, a cloud of dust covering the battle area. The three looked around, waiting for the dust to clear out of their sight.

When it finally cleared a bit, a stare-out was in process; Neji was on the left side, panting, clutching his left arm and leaning on his right foot with most of his weight while Sasuke was on the other side of the battle zone, panting like heck and had a hand to his forehead, a sign he had a major headache. They were just staring at each other; no real sign that an explosion had taken place until the dust had completely cleared, revealing a deep trench that appeared to be formed by two Kaiten. Sasuke's Byakugan was starting to retreat slowly and Neji's panting was enough to make a normal person faint. Lee and Gai had stopped chanting by then.

"What just happened?" Sakura asked, running back over to where the three jounin were.

"Sasuke and Neji used the Kaiten at the same time," Lee explained at once. "They both hit each other, but Sasuke managed to get a hit with Jyuuken on Neji's arm."

Naruto looked back and forth between the two. Neji looked in worse shape, but he knew Sasuke wouldn't be able to keep the Byakugan activated much longer without collapsing. He looked over at Tenten, biting her lower lip and staring at Neji. Her eyes were wide and she appeared frozen to the spot. Sakura wasn't any better: stiff legged, wide eyed and shaking slightly. Naruto looked back at Sasuke. This battle would end any second now.

"Neji!" Gai called to his student. "You can do it! Finish him…"

"Would you shut up?" Neji managed to shout, his breathing still heavy.

Sasuke took that moment and ran at Neji, his hair flying back from the sides of his head revealing the Byakugan slowly disappearing bit by bit. Neji, surprised Sasuke still had the energy to run, staggered into a posture for the Kaiten, getting ready for Sasuke's attack. Everyone's breath was held as the most likely last move of the battle played out in front of them.

In the blink of an eye, another explosion erupted, much bigger than the last. Sasuke and Neji were thrown back to opposite sides of the 'fighting arena' both falling to the ground unmoving. Kakashi stood up and waited for about five more seconds before he let the match officially end. Tenten, Lee and Gai all ran over to where a fallen Neji lay as Sakura and Naruto ran over to Sasuke. Kakashi walked slowly behind them.

"Neji," Tenten called into his ear, trying to get him to respond. "Neji, can you hear me? If you can, do something that will let me know that you can hear me."

Neji stirred slightly, groaning at the pain in his back from bashing into the tree. He opened his eyes, seeing Tenten looking down on him with Lee and Gai behind her and on the other side of the 'arena' to Sasuke in the same position he was in with Sakura and Naruto around him.

"Did we tie?" he asked feebly.

Tenten nodded, looking over her shoulder at Sasuke.

"I don't see how he could use the Byakugan though," Gai said, kneeling next to Neji. "Do you have an idea Neji?"

Neji shook his head as best he could, at the same time failing an attempt to sit up. His chakra was drained and his arm still hurt but other then that he was fine. He looked over at Sasuke again but he couldn't really see that well. From what he could tell, the boy was still unconscious. He tried once more to sit up, succeeding thanks to Tenten. Lee and Gai had begun to cry in each others' arms in relief of Neji's recovery, but Tenten was just staring in the direction Sasuke was supposed to be. He couldn't be certain but Neji was pretty sure that they were thinking both the same thing: "_How in the world did he use the Byakugan?_"

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"Sasuke?" Naruto asked for the hundredth time.

"Naruto, will you move so I can take a look at him now?" Sakura asked impatiently.

Naruto had been trying to get Sasuke to wake up for the past five minutes. Sakura, being a medic-nin wanted to take a look at him to make sure he was just unconscious and nothing else had happening to him. She looked over at Neji, attempting to stand up while leaning on Tenten for support. They would come over here once he could stand on his own and she wanted to at least tell them that he would be fine like Neji. Naruto slowly got up to let Sakura examine Sasuke's lifeless body.

His breathing was in short, wheezing gasps, his chest barely moving at all. Sakura sent her chakra inside his body to check at how bad his internal bleeding was since the Jyuuken attacks the insides. It wasn't too bad, just a few arteries had been thinned by Neji and his lungs temporarily compacted, nothing she couldn't fix with a quick healing jutsu. It was his eyes she was worried about the most. Surveying them quickly with her chakra, she came to the conclusion that his sight would be blurred for a while, but other than that he would be alright.

"Are you done yet?" Naruto asked eagerly.

Sakura got up slowly as Sasuke started to stir. His eyes flickered open for a second before he jumped up into the branches of the tree he was laying against a second ago. Naruto sat down where he was and looked up into the tree, searching for a glimpse of dark blue that would symbolize where Sasuke was. This wasn't anything new; Sasuke always did this all the time when he needed medical help. Sakura had gotten use to it too, that's why she worked fast whenever he was rendered unconscious. Naruto gave up on finding Sasuke for a while and went over to brag to Neji about being right. Sakura stood where she was looking up to the tree as she prepared to redirect Naruto's flow of chakra when Neji was through with him. She snapped out of her daze when I faint voice could be heard from atop the tree.

"When is my vision going to go back to normal?"

Sakura smiled. "Not until at least another two hours," she replied, still trying to find where it was Sasuke was hiding. "And you know that you're going to have to explain why you have the Byakugan to Neji. If he tells Hinata's father, you'll be in big trouble."

"I know that," Sasuke said gruffly.

Sakura could tell he was getting angry. She sighed and went over to help Tenten brake up the fight that Naruto had caused with Neji. Gai and Lee were walking over to Kakashi who at the moment was trying to get back to sleep. He opened his eye to stare at the two approaching him.

"Tell Kakashi," Gai said sternly, one on the few times he was serious. "How is Sasuke able to use the Byakugan?"

"Neji seemed pretty upset that he was almost beaten by his own Bloodline Limit," Lee added.

Kakashi sighed and stood up, brushing away the leaves that had fallen on him.

"I promised not to say," he said after a long silence. "If you want answers, you'll have to ask a member of my team, not me though. I need to gain those guys's trust if I'm ever going to get Naruto and Sakura off my case."

"About what?" Gai asked suspiciously.

"About always being late to meet them," Kakashi told him with another sigh. "I tried to tell them the truth once, but they thought it was another one of my excuses."

"I see… Come on Lee, we need some answers."

And with that, the two green-suited ninja walked off toward a fight that had erupted between Neji, Naruto, Sakura and Tenten. Kakashi smiled under his mask. He hadn't really promised anything, but he also didn't want to be on Sasuke bad side at the moment. Besides, Gai would believe anything he told him and Lee would believe anything Gai told him. That was the way it seemed to work these days. He flashed his eyes from the fight that Gai and Lee had now entered into the tree Sasuke had jumped into. He could only just make out a tiny hint of navy blue among the lush green leaves that marked Sasuke position almost near the top.

Surrounded in green, Sasuke was only just starting to make out the edges of the leaf he was staring at. He couldn't quite make out what was going on in that big ball of dust over by where Neji had landed but he could assume that it was a playful fight.

"_At least a bit of my vision is starting to clear up_," he thought to himself calmly. "_Now what am I going to say about my Byakugan?_"

"ENOUGH!"

Bodies went flying every-which-way with Gai in the center of them all. Naruto looked up slowly from where he had landed and glared at Neji who lay beside him. His white eyes stared back intensely, all signs of humanity gone. Lee quickly got between the two, thus ending their little staring contest. He lowered his voice so that only the two lying on the ground on either side of him could hear.

"Gai-sensei would like to speak, would you two please stop fighting until he is done?"

"Not on my life," Neji said under his breath, getting into a sitting position.

"Same goes for me," Naruto said in the same tone as Neji.

Lee sighed and looked at Gai pleadingly. The older man nodded and picked up Naruto by the waist, walked over to where Sakura was and dropped him on his face beside her, hard. He looked at the two teens, addressing them and them only.

"How is Sasuke able to use the Byakugan?" he asked in his normal tone of voice, forgetting about his team completely.

Sakura looked over at the tree Sasuke had hid himself in. She didn't really want to say, but a slight rustle from the upper leaves and a flash of blue told her that it was okay to tell him. Naruto was too busy rubbing his face to notice so she went on with out him.

"Well, it goes like this: Sasuke killed most of the people in Oto including a friend he had made giving him the Mangekyou Sharingan as well as the Tsukuyomi. After that he went to find Itachi and killed him giving him the second stage, the Setsu Sharingan but he won't tell us what the third one is or how he got it."

Naruto stared at her, horrified at what she had just told him. Gai nodded thoughtfully, taking in all that she had said.

"Setsu Sharingan, eh…" he muttered to himself as he got up from his crouched position and headed over to Kakashi again. Naruto looked at Sakura for an explanation, wide eyed and fully alert despite the dirt on his face.

"Sasuke told me I could," she shrugged.

"And where was I when he did this?" Naruto demanded, crossing his arms into a pout.

"When you were trying to rub more dirt in your eyes."

"When was that?"

"Just now."

"Then how do you know that was what he meant?"

"Because I'm smarter than you."

Sakura stood up, ending the conversation as she went over to apologize to Tenten for getting involved with the fight instead of stopping it. Naruto got to his feet more slowly than Sakura had and glanced over at Neji. The older youth lying on his back staring at the clouds in a way that reminded Naruto of Shikamaru. He was about to go yell at the Hyuuga some more when Kakashi began talking. He rushed over to his sensei to hear better as the rest of the teenagers gathered around as well, excluding Sasuke of coarse.

"Due to a very heated battle, training is over. Tomorrow is New Years Eve so there aren't any missions for anyone under 18 years of age to go on. Also, you are all to go to the Ninja Academy tomorrow at nine for the New Years Party. Any questions?"

Naruto put up his hand high along with Sakura and Lee. Kakashi picked Sakura first.

"If it's a party, does that mean we have to wear our kimonos?"

"If you want to. Lee?

"Will the other teams be there?"

"Good question Lee!" Gai answered before Kakashi could. "Teams eight and ten will also be there along with their jounin teachers Asuma and Kurenai."

"What do you want Naruto?" Kakashi asked in a tired voice.

"If it starts at nine, will you show up at eleven, twelve, or one?"

"Very funny. You're all dismissed now."

The shinobi went their separate ways and Sasuke went home about five minutes after them having his vision restored enough to see ten feet in front of him by then. Sakura and Tenten started getting their kimono's ready as Lee and Naruto washed up. Gai and Kakashi had decided on the telephone to make it a contest to see who dressed the nicest as team ten finally got to go home. As everyone was getting ready for the big party, Sasuke had a yellow finch waiting for him by his window with an important message from a girl in Suna named Kaiya. As soon as he read the message, he burned it and prepared his weapons for the following night.


	17. Count Down to Disaster

Ok, normally I'd go through the whole, "I'm sorry this is late" routine but you know what? I can't help it anymore! I have to type more which means it will take longer for the chapter to come out! Live with it! I know some people that only update once every month, and that's if we're lucky. 

Also, about the chapters being long: I can't help that either! We're starting to get into the really juicy parts, so there's a lot to type about. Be happy!

Also, about the technology in this chapter... well, don't blame me! I mean, come on, Sakura and Ino have cell-phones in the 13th ending and I've seen about 3 laptops in the show itself, so there!

**Note:** Though I know alot about it, I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. All I own is the Element Users, my story plot and the many characters I have made up for this fan-fiction.

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**Chapter 17:**

**Count-Down Disaster**

"Hello?"

"Hey Naruto!"

"How'd you get my phone number, Sakura?"

"Hinata told me."

"Hinata has my phone number?"

"Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Don't tell her I said that, ok?"

"Are you calling because you finally lost it?"

"Very funny. I wanted to know two things."

"Ok, what?"

"One: If you wanted to walk to the party with me and two: if you knew Sasuke's number."

"For the first one, I guess so and for the second one no. Why don't you already have his number? I'm sure Ino has it somewhere under the piles of flowers at her house."

"Ino and the other girls at the academy were always trying to find out his number, but it wasn't in the phone book nor was it on his ninja file."

"They looked at his ninja file!"

"I told them it was a bad idea and that they would get in trouble but they looked anyway."

"Yeah right, I'm sure you went with them Sakura."

"I didn't!"

"Ever think maybe he doesn't have a phone?"

"But doesn't everyone have a phone?"

"Are you feeling ok in the head?"

"Never mind. Let's meet in front of that ramen shop you always go to with Iruka-sensei."

"What time?"

"It's starts at nine right?"

"Yeah."

"So we'll meet at eight-forty-five."

"Ok. See you then."

"Bye."

Sakura sighed as she hung up the phone. She wanted to walk to the party with both her team mates. She quickly checked the phone book one more time before she gave up. At least she knew where his house was. Sakura knew some girls that were still looking for it. Maybe that was why he didn't want anyone to know his phone number. Then again, what was the point of having a phone but not wanting anyone to call you? Maybe Naruto was right; maybe he didn't have a phone.

"I'll try Ino then," she muttered to herself, picking up the phone again and punching in Ino's number.

"Sakura, someone's at the door for you," her mother called to her from downstairs.

Sakura put down the phone and ran down the stairs and to the front door. To her surprise, Ino stood in the walk way holding out a bonsai cherry-blossom tree in front of her.

"Surprise!" she cried when Sakura stood a gap in the doorway.

"Ino," Sakura began slowly. "It's not my birthday you know. My birthday isn't until March twenty-eighth."

"I know but we just had this tree lying around getting all dusty so my mom said you could have it," Ino explained, handing the fragile tree in its tiny little pot over to Sakura. "Are you all ready for the party tonight?"

"I've got my kimono ready and I've got someone to go with if that's what you mean," Sakura said, putting the little tree on the side table for safe keeping until she could find a place for it. "Are you going with anyone?"

"Shikamaru, Chouji, and Asuma-sensei," Ino stated proudly. "We were the ones that decorated the place. We're going to have music and dancing and a door prize."

"Hey, do you know Sasuke's phone number?" Sakura asked, remembering Naruto thought that she might know.

"How should I know?" Ino confessed. "We tried to find it before, remember? You were there after all."

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura sighed, trying not to recall the girls' mission to find out more about Sasuke. "So you don't know his phone number?"

"Why should I? He never wants to talk to me in the first place, not even face to face!" Ino complained. "I'm pretty sure I've gotten over him by now."

"Ok," Sakura hurried on, trying to end the conversation as quickly as possible. "See you at the party!"

"Bye!" Ino waved, walking down the path back to her own house.

Sakura closed the door and waited a few minutes before she went out the door herself and headed over to Sasuke's house. If she couldn't phone him she would go see him personally.

Sasuke lived on the other side of Konoha from her and a little bit closer to Naruto. He still had the same apartment room as he did three years ago since Tsunade always thought he would eventually come back. She had only been inside twice and both times were only because they were taking turns of whose house they stayed at during a mission.

She walked up a spiral staircase until she reached the seventh floor. She strode down the corridor and stopped in front of the door numbered seven-forty-two at the end of the isle. Knocking twice, she waited until she heard Sasuke turning the lock of the door. When he opened the door, he looked as if he was about to go on a mission.

His long raven-blue hair was pulled back into a low pony and his shirt was a darker blue than normal. His shorts were completely black and he had his weapon packs on. With the Sharingan activated and his fore-head protector sagging a little bit lower than usual, Sakura almost thought he was about to attack her.

"What do you want?" he asked gruffly.

"Are you even going to the party tonight?" Sakura asked cautiously, eyeing the katana on his back.

"Maybe," was the only reply she got.

Sasuke was actually an ANBU member for special secret missions. Squad seven tried not to talk about it, but that sometimes meant Sasuke would disappear from time to time without telling them. Sakura did find it odd though that Tsunade didn't make him wear an ANBU uniform; only the mask with the animal design of a raven. When she approached the women about it, she would either change the subject or dismiss Sakura. No doubt Shizune would do the same thing if she tried.

Sasuke sighed suddenly, making Sakura jump slightly.

"I'm not going to be there for at least the first hour, okay?" he told her, almost reluctantly.

"Oh," Sakura said, a little taken aback. "Where are you going?"

"Suna," Sasuke stated plainly. "Do you want to come in or something?"

Sakura nodded slightly and stepped inside. It was true Sasuke's apartment was a bit smaller than Naruto's but at least he kept things organized. There were four rooms: A living room-type thing, a kitchen connected to that without a door, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Sasuke only used the master bedroom and kept the other one as a guest room/storage room and had it filled with boxes. In the living room-thing were two very comfy couches with a view looking out into the peaceful landscape behind Konoha. Sakura took a seat in the one off to the left and stared at the ground. Sasuke came and sat on the one on the right a few seconds later.

"Is something wrong?" he asked cautiously, eyeing her.

"Nothing's wrong," Sakura said, turning her head to the side. "Why would you think that?"

"Because you don't usually come to my house just to ask a silly question," Sasuke pointed out.

"Well you don't have a phone or something else so I can't contact you any other way," Sakura blurted out, surprised at herself at how annoyed she was about the matter.

Sasuke reached into his back pocket and took out a black flip-phone with the Konoha symbol in grey on the top.

"Well does this count?"

Sakura stared at the little cell phone for about a minute before she burst out laughing.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Naruto was joyously sipping the last of his ramen when the clock struck eight-forty-five. When he turned around to see it Sakura was coming yet, he was surprised to find her standing right behind him.

"Well, how do I look?" she asked, pulling slightly at her kimono.

Her pink hair had been tied up into a bun with only two locks of hair curling around her ears on either side. Her dress was a bit of a darker pink than her hair with lighter pink flowers here and there. Her ears had miniature versions of kunai dangling from them and her waist-sash was a stunning poppy-red colour. As far as Naruto could see, she was way better than just fine.

"You look… umm… wonderful," he stammered, trying to hide his blush.

Sakura giggled and looked at Naruto's outfit. At first glance, it looked almost like a martial-arts gee but at a second look it was more than that; it was an orange gee. On the back had the mark of Konoha in red and it was stripped lightly in a brighter orange. Sakura took a third look at it and held her breath her breath in an attempt to not laugh. Naruto noticed this and blushed again.

"It's all I had to wear that was better than my normal suit and wasn't black," he tried to explain, blushing a bit harder at every word.

"Well then, shall we go?" Sakura suggested, having gotten over Naruto's outfit quickly enough.

Naruto nodded and they set off down the road towards their old school. Sakura walked with her hands cupped in front of her while Naruto put his arms behind his head as if to cushion it as they walked along the oh-too-familiar path in silence.

"So you didn't get a hold of Sasuke, did you?" Naruto asked, anxious to end the stillness.

"Yeah, I did, but he's not coming right away," Sakura answered, thankful for the conversation. "He's got a mission in Suna but he did say he would come later."

"You went to see him didn't you?" Naruto snickered. "I _told_ you he doesn't have a phone."

"He sort of does," Sakura insisted. "He's got one of those ANBU communicators so that counts."

"Those things don't ring and you don't talk into them. They run on the Telepathic Technique," Naruto pointed out. "And besides, I don't think normal phones can call them."

Sakura sighed. "You win, but I still say it counts as having a phone."

"Are you going to the party as well?" a voice from the shadows said as the passed.

Naruto and Sakura stopped short, all senses turned on full. Now wouldn't be a good time for a battle, especially since they were both in clothes not suited for fighting. Faintly, Sakura could make out the sound of bees buzzing, or at least something like that.

"Shino?"

"Correct," the bug master said as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Why do you always do that?" Naruto asked impatiently. "And are you going to the party dressed like… that?"

Shino was wearing all black; probably a ceremonial kimono but he still had his shades on as well as his fore-head protector. His weapons pouch was attached to his right leg and his bugs were slowly coming out of his arm holes.

"Is there danger?" Sakura asked, biting her lower lip.

"Not to my knowledge," Shino replied, ignoring Naruto's question. "This would be an ideal time for an enemy to sneak up on us though, so I want to be prepared if that happens."

"Want to go in with us?" Sakura asked, stepping on Naruto's foot so he wouldn't complain.

Shino shrugged. "Might as well. It's about to start anyway."

Naruto pulled his sleeve up, checking the watch for the time. Sure enough, it read eight-fifty-eight right on the dot. He turned around and saw Shino and Sakura walking toward the school again and hurried to catch up with them.

"Hey Sakura," Ino said, opening the door. "About time. I like your kimono. Anyway, I'm supposed to ask you guys if you want to enter the door prize. Do you?"

Ino was wearing her kimono as well, but she hadn't bothered to put up her hair. The purple background colour on her dress clashed with the yellow waist-sash and her sandals were dyed purple.

"Depends, what would we win?" Naruto inquired, itching to enter.

"I can't tell you that!" Ino shouted, making the people around the room look over suspiciously. "That's the whole point! And you would be number seven anyway."

"Why!" Naruto whined.

"Because you were the seventh person to get here," Ino stated plainly. "Asuma-sensei was first to open the door, then me, Shikamaru and Chouji came making me forth and then you guys came making you last."

"But we came in a group," Sakura reminded her.

"But I can't mark you all down as one!" Ino shouted again. "It goes in alphabetical order if you come as a group. That's what made me last and it's making you last now Naruto."

Naruto pouted and wrote his name down and his number. Sakura and Shino did the same and entered the room.

Sakura was excepting colourful lights, huge surround sound system and maybe the risers moved for a dance floor sort of thing. That's the way Ino had seemed to suggest things would be. How terribly wrong she had been. For colourful lights there was red, blue and yellow coloured tissue paper over the normal lights and for music there was a little boom-box playing some J-pop. The risers weren't moved the tiniest bit and to make matters worse, the food was made up of different flavours of chips only.

Sakura and Naruto took their seats in the spots that they were assigned to group seven in. It felt kind of empty without Sasuke there; then again, there were only seven people in the room at the moment with a bit of music playing. After that, things started moving in a blur.

Naruto couldn't quite remember when the rest of the teams came in but he certainly remembered when Kakashi came in.

"Gai-sensei, Kakashi-sensei has arrived at last!" Lee shouted, jumping up and down and pointing to the white-haired man at the door.

"Careful now Lee, you don't want to tear your nice suit do you?" Gai soothed, stepping next to Lee.

Both Gai and Lee were wearing green tuxedos with little red bows tied around their necks. Gai closed his eyes and walked up to his rival.

"So Kakashi, what have you to wear?" he asked casually, keeping his eyes closed. "You do remember our little challenge do you not?"

Gai opened his eyes and stared at Kakashi, mouth open wide. Kakashi was still in his normal Jounin uniform. Tears erupted from Gai's eyes.

"That, by far, is the coolest thing to wear to a party!" Gai wailed, clutching onto Lee for support.

Kakashi cocked his head to one side and proceed to where Naruto and Sakura sat. He looked confused for a moment before he regained his normal look.

"I take it Sasuke's on a mission?" he said quietly.

Naruto and Sakura nodded, sighing slightly at the thought.

"Ok everyone!" Ino shouted from where she stood by the window. "It's eleven-fifty-nine right now! Time for the count down till new years!"

Kurenai came in at that moment carrying a huge digital clock with the aid of Hinata who were both still in their kimonos. They set the oversized clock on the front desk and turned it on, showing there was only twenty seconds till midnight. At that moment, everyone started counting down.

"_Nineteen…"_

"Here comes another year and another chance to be a chuunin," Naruto said hopefully.

"_Eighteen…"_

"And another year of boring missions if we fail again," Sakura commented, sighing a heavy sigh.

"_Seventeen…"_

"And another year of Kakashi being late for our missions," Naruto said quiet enough that Kakashi himself wouldn't hear.

"_Sixteen…"_

"I heard that," Kakashi told him without turning around.

"_Fifteen…"_

Neji glanced out the window, staring beyond the buildings.

"Something doesn't feel right," he said under his breath.

"_Fourteen…" _

"Are you ready for the new year Lee?" Gai asked his prized student, grinning his weird grin.

"_Thirteen…"_

"Of coarse sir!" Lee told his beloved sensei, in turn grinning _his_ weird grin.

"_Twelve…"_

Kiba sniffed the air, Akamaru doing the same.

"You smell it too, boy?"

"_Eleven…"_

Naruto stood up from his seat, clutching his stomach.

"_The Kyuubi's acting up_," he thought to himself. "_What's going on here?_"

"_Ten…"_

"What's wrong Naruto?" Sakura asked, fully aware that it was the Kyuubi.

"_Nine…"_

"It senses danger," Naruto explained, grimacing at the stab of pain. "Won't tell me what kind though."

"_Eight…"  
_"So what did I miss?" Sasuke asked, appearing suddenly beside Sakura still in his mission uniform.

"_Seven…"_

"There's some kind of danger going on here," Naruto explained once again, relaxing as he got use to the pain.

"_Six…"_

"I know, I sensed it on my way here," Sasuke said, frowning.

"_Five…"_

"Well, what's going on then?" Sakura asked, starting to get worried.

"_Four…"_

"I'm not sure," Sasuke admitted. "But it can't be good if even the Kyuubi doesn't like it."

"_Three…"_

Shino lifted his finger for his bug to land.

"That's no good," he said ever so quietly.

"_Two…"_

"Shoot!" Sasuke said in a tone just above talking level. "I know what it is; we have to get out of here!"

"_One…"_

There was a loud crash as the wall in between the windows exploded. Dust and smoke went everywhere, blinding even Neji and Hinata. Twelve figures stepped through the smoke, all wearing the same outfit. One of them took another step closer to the party, putting his hands into some unseen hand sign. As soon as that had been done, no one could move a muscle. Try as she may, Ten-ten couldn't reach her scrolls underneath her kimono. The figures laughed as the smoke slowly but surely calmed.

"Sorry to break up the party," the one at the front said in a deep voice. "It was our orders. Now, where is Uchiha Sasuke?"


	18. Ground Rules

Well, I got this one up faster than I thought it would. I like this chapter, but it was sort of hard to inculde everyone that was there, but each one still plays the role that I have assigned them.

For Your Information: This chapter practically starts with a flash-back, but I needed some way of separating it from the rest of the chapter. I tried a few things, but they didn't seem to want to show up when I uploaded the chapter onto the document manager. Thus, a bar will forever more separate the chapter and flash-back. Normally, if the flash is small enough, I'll just have some other thing in the way, but I'll warn you if/when that happens.

Sasuke seems to be divided between Konoha and these other people he keeps seeing. Geez, where does this guy's loyalties lie!

**Note:** I don't own Naruto, only this fan-fiction, the Element Users and the many, many characters I havemade up. THERE MINE! ALL MINE!

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**Chapter 18:**

**Ground Rules**

From where he was hanging from the ceiling, Sasuke could see a clear view of the intruders. He could faintly hear his name being said, but he paid no attention. His eyes were unfocused as he remembered what had happened just an hour ago…

* * *

Sasuke ran through the forest the separated the Fire country and the Wind country at top speed, appearing as a dark-blue blur. No one could tell it was him however due to the raven shaped ANBU mask that concealed his identity. The trees were fewer around here, which forced him the jump farther and farther just the reach the next branch.

"Where are we going?" said a voice sort of like a snakes', except it wasn't. "I know for a fact that you didn't have a mission."

"Keep quiet," Sasuke shushed, not even bothering to look at the creature. "Just because we're out of the village doesn't mean you can talk."

"But no one's around!" it moaned, still hidden. "I never get to come out, and when I do, I still have to keep my camouflage activated. Shive always gets to be out in the open, and the same goes with Tori! It's so stupid!"

"Draco, one more word out of you and you'll wish you were still with Lady Aboshi," Sasuke hissed, clearly annoyed. "We're almost there; you can come out when we're with the others."

Then there was silence in the forest again, or what was left of it. The trees were disappearing at a rapid rate and replacing them was pure sand and gusting winds.

"_But he does have a point,_" Sasuke thought silently to himself. "_If I get caught out here by someone else from Konoha…_"

His thought was interrupted by a large group of birds surrounding a nearby oasis. In the dying sun, Sasuke could just make out the colour of their feathers: rainbow. As quickly and silently as he could, he dashed for the tiny island in the sand and stood hidden in the trees around it. There was a barrier preventing him from getting any closer, and a well made barrier at that.

Sasuke inspected it closer and could just make out the word 'wind' in kanji. He sighed and took off his mask, kneeling down so that he was eye level with the kanji. The mark of wind glowed a whitish-pink and Sasuke stepped through the barrier. He put his mask in his back pouch and made his way to the center oasis.

"Sasuke! About time!" a cherry voice called.

Sasuke looked up to see a girl with the same coloured hair as the kanji of wind when it had glowed about the same age and height as him. On her shoulder sat a rainbow-coloured bird that had the mark of wind on it's belly. She ran up to him quickly, her feet barely touching the ground.

"Where's everyone else?" he asked her, looking around the tree-encircled oasis.

"I gave them a later time," she answered, her bright green eyes shinning. "I need to talk to you alone."

"Draco, you need to leave too," Sasuke said quietly, closing his eyes.

There was a shimmer in the air just above Sasuke's turtle-neck before a it rose up into the air and deactivated it's camouflage. Now, floating in the air, was a small, green dragon. It didn't have wings nor did it have a mane but it had small horns and sharp claws. It's body was long, and at the end of it's tail, a blue flame was burning. On it's muzzle, was the word 'fire' in kanji written in a darker green. The bird on the girl's shoulder ruffled it's feathers and flapped it's wings, rising itself to the same level as the dragon.

"Long time no see, Draco," it chirped, a gleeful expression visible on it's face.

"Same goes for you, Tori," Draco said, smiling so his fangs showed. "We'll just be leaving now," he said, turning to Sasuke and the girl.

Sasuke nodded and watched the two animals fly out of sight. Then he turned back to the girl and waited for her to begin.

"Ok, the truth is, Sasuke, I'm worried," she admitted, staring at the ground. "Gaara-sama is a great Kazekage but even he can't say no to the feudal lord's requests, and that could spell trouble for us."

"Kaiya, if you're so worried, tell Kohaku," Sasuke told her, his face showing no emotion. "I'm not the leader this time, he is."

"I know, but I feel better telling you than him," she went on. "He never comes to Suna anyway. And I needed to warn you of something else too."

"Go on."

"Well, since the Fire Country is the biggest, the feudal lord from there decided to team up with the other countries," she explained, her eyes becoming wet with tears and her voice starting to waver. "We can't disappear now though, not with Lady Aboshi's plan and all, I mean, that would ruin…"

Sasuke pressed his finger to her lips to get her to stop talking.

"Nothing will happen to us," he soothed, a smile appearing on his face. "As long as they don't know who you are, you'll be fine."

Kaiya nodded as her tears started flowing down her cheeks. Just then, Tori and Draco returned and Tori landed on Kaiya's shoulder, nuzzling up next to her. Draco just sat on Sasuke's shoulder and nudging against his ear.

"We saw Kohaku and Sota coming while we were on the other side of this place," he whispered. "I'd imagine Kora will be coming with Imara."

Sasuke nodded and turned back to Kaiya. She was wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, her shoulders still shuddering every now and then.

"I'm sure Kohaku just wants to go over the plan," he said after she looked at him again. "You can tell him what you've found out then."

"That's not the only thing," she said, suddenly all evidence of crying a moment ago gone. "Gaara-sama also said he had gotten word from the feudal lord that they were going to start the searches in Konoha and that he hoped Naruto wouldn't get involved."

"I'll make sure Naruto stays out of it," Sasuke reassured her even though he himself wasn't so sure he could. "_Naruto would've remembered my meeting with Kohaku by now. As long as he keeps that to himself, I'm sure I'll be able to keep him out of all this."_

"Ok," Kaiya said, watching Kohaku and another dark haired boy come closer. "Just be careful Sasuke."

"I will," he promised. "I will…"

* * *

Sasuke gritted his teeth. If only he _could_ promise. By the looks of it, Naruto and Sakura were already involved.

"I'll ask one more time, where is Uchiha Sasuke?" the man asked again, still not visible in the dust.

Sasuke jumped down from where he was and undid the gen-jutsu stopping everyone from moving. In a second, everyone who had brought weapons had their kunai out and ready to attack the intruders. All twelve people standing in the mist-like-dust chuckled, clearly amused by this attempt at defence.

"I am Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said out loud, standing up on the desk. "What business do you have with me?"

The man at the front waved his hand, clearing what was hiding him and his companions. He was wearing an ANBU uniform, as were all the others yet there were two people with the Konoha mark on the top, two people with the Suna mark and so on for the different countries. The last two people had the mark of the Hidden Village in the Snow. Their faces were unseen under identical masks and if anyone hadn't bothered to look closely, they would've have guessed they were clones. The one at the front of their group with the mark of Konoha stepped forward again.

"We were assembled by the feudal lords of each country we represent," he explained in his deep voice. "By order of the six feudal lords, we must find and kill all six of the Element Users that roam this land."

A hushed wave of murmuring engulfed the room as the ninja whispered gossip to each other about what they had heard of the Element Users. Sasuke gritted his teeth again, this time harder.

"_She was right,_" he thought, not letting it show on his expression. "What does that have to do with me?" he said out loud.

"We were informed by the Hokage before she left that she had put you in charge of the Element Users' affairs in this country," a feminine voice answered but which one it was could not be told. "Also, most of the people in this room will be turning fifteen this coming year. That makes them suspects of being the Element User of Fire."

"What?"

"There must be some mistake!"

"I'm not turning fifteen, I'll be turning sixteen!"

"I've never heard of these Element User people until today!"

Protests rang out through the crowd as the twelve teenagers disagreed with the information out before them. The Jounin teachers, however, were keeping quiet as were Naruto and Sasuke.

"Enough!" the deep voice of the first man yelled, bringing silence into the room once more. "Even though all of you are suspects, we don't know for sure if anyone here is the culprit we're looking for. Sasuke," he looked over at the raven-haired teen once more. "You probably know these people well and know about the Element Users enough to tell if we should investigate more about them to get more information. Tell us, are you suspicious of anyone here?"

All eyes were turned to Sasuke he fixed his glare at the twelve ANBU from their different countries.

"There is no one here that could possibly be the Element User of Fire," he said after a while. "I doubt that you'll be able to find any of them by now. With the coming of the fifteenth year since their reincarnation, the year they get their powers back, I wouldn't think that they would be the type to interact with people."

The ANBU talked among themselves for about a minute before one from Yuki (1) came forward.

"Your point has been made Uchiha Sasuke," she said formally. "However we have no leads so far, so we have been given a set of rules that will take effect immediately."

"Rule one: No one will be able to leave the country, or the village for that matter, until the Element Users have been found."

"That's not fair!" Naruto shouted, getting to his feet and pounding on the table. "How are we supposed to go on missions then?"

"You won't," one of them said sternly. "That is rule number two. Rule two: No shinobi are to go on any mission."

"But that's not fair to the people from other countries without a hidden village that might need something done!" Sakura protested, standing up next to Naruto.

"Those in ANBU are still allowed to go on missions but any others must take up a life of a normal person until this matter has been settled," some one from Ishi (2) said in a masculine voice.

"Rule three," someone went on. "Nothing must be covering anyone's forehead. This goes for forehead protectors, bandages, etcetera. You may still wear your forehead protector, but it can't cover your forehead. Anyone wearing something one their foreheads now, take it off. You too Jounins"

Reluctantly, the forehead protectors came off, the skin underneath being a lighter shade than the rest of the skin. Gai and Lee didn't have to do anything, and neither did Hinata, Sakura, Ino, or Shikamaru. Kakashi waited about a minute before you took off his forehead protector and kept his left eye closed, and placed his headband in his back weapons pocket. Many other people just put it somewhere else, but Naruto refused to give up his most prised possession.

"There is no way I'm taking this off!" he said loudly, sitting down and slouching in his seat. "Iruka-sensei gave me this when I passed the ninja academy and I've worn it almost every day ever since!"

"Naruto, just do it," Sasuke whispered, never looking away from the strangers. "This people are probably beyond even my level, and they expect to be taken seriously. Just do what they say or this will turn into trouble for the rest of us."

"But…" Naruto started, being interrupted by Sakura.

"Sasuke's right Naruto. The longer you keep them waiting the more likely they are to attack us. Just put it around your neck or something."

Naruto pouted again before he carefully took off the headband and tied it around his wrist, taking extra care in making sure it was just as visible as it was when it was on his forehead. A few of the ANBU talked amongst themselves before the one that had spoken first stepped forward again.

"Before we present the forth rule, we need clarification," he stated, turning toward Sasuke. "Uchiha Sasuke, is it true that when an Element User officially becomes fifteen, the mark on his or her head become clearer?"

"Yes," Sasuke said without a moments pause. "It becomes clearer as well as brighter."

"Agreed," a Suna person said. "Rule four: As soon as one week has passed since your birth date for this year, you are to notify one of us immediately."

"You mean you guys are staying here?" Kiba asked in disbelief.

"Only one of us will be in your village at a time," the female from Konoha said. "What ever we ask you to do, you must do so for the sake of everyone's safety."

"What's s-so… so terrible ab-about these people that-t makes you w-want to… to destroy them s-so… so quickly?" Hinata asked in her small voice.

"The Element Users come around every hundred years," someone explained. "They have the abilities to control the elements without using chakra or any energy at all. Normally they were needed and called upon by kages of the past for help during wars. I believe the first Hokage here had help from an Element User even though his speciality was wood."

"This time that they are coming around," someone else continued. "They are not needed and are therefore a threat to society."

"That seems hardly fair," Shikamaru muttered. "They may be troublesome, but they haven't done anything wrong."

Cries of agreement rung out through the crowd before they were all shushed by one of the ANBU.

"None of you understand how dangerous these people really are," the Konoha man's voice yelled. "Their souls are put in an alternate dimension while they wait for the next hundred years to go by. What do you think they do in that place for so long?" When no one answered, he continued. "They think about what had happened that last lifetime, they strengthen themselves and they plot revenge on the family of any one person that had gotten on their nerves. Don't you see? Not all of the Element Users were needed last century, therefore they might want revenge on us!"

"But you have no proof that's what they think!" Ino protested, grabbing a kunai from Tenten's hand and holding out as if ready to throw it. "I hate people who judge another on what they 'think' that person might or might not be like. None of you have ever met one of these Element people, but I'm sure they don't think that way! No, I'm not sure, I'm positive!"

Sasuke flinched at Ino's words. Did the girl really think that deep about people? Beside him, Sakura started blushing madly as she looked upon her friend and her words sunk in. For the moment, the ANBU were silent. They couldn't retaliate from Ino's words, nor could they hold an argument about it. What she said was true and they knew it.

"Be that as it is," the female member from Kumo said, slowly and cautiously. "We have orders that must be carried out. We have no time to think about these thoughts, but we all agree that you have a very good point. I suggest you send a letter the feudal lord of the country of Fire."

"Furthermore," Someone else started, waiting for the sighs of annoyance to die down. "Rule five: No exams will be held at this time. This goes for the academy passing exam, the chuunin exam…"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Naruto shouted, standing up and pounding on the table, again. "You made me give up my missions. You made me give up my forehead protector. Now you're going to make me give up the chuunin exam? Forget it! With all these rules that we're all going to forget eventually, do you really think most of these will be followed just as you say?"

"If you do not follow them, we will be forced to kill you," the man from Konoha said smoothly. "These rules are for the good of the whole world. As far as we know, the same thing is happening in the lands east of here, called the Great Samurai Lands. The Great Shinobi Lands agreed with this action and copied it. Get it now?"

The room was silent once more, and it filled Sasuke with rage.

"_They can't keep Naruto shut up for too long_," he thought smugly. "_That guy's bound to find some sort of loop in their plan, and I'll be right behind him all the way_."

"Time has run out for Konoha's visit. We will post these rules and the ones we didn't get to around the village. Until then."

And with that as the parting, the twelve ANBU disappeared into the darkness of the early morning, off to other places to spread their unwanted and unfair news.

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(1) - Yuki -it means 'snow' in Japanese, so I just thought that maybe it would be the name of the hidden village up there.

(2) - Ishi - that means 'stone' in Japanese, (or at least acording to my translater) so you know, I just thought...


	19. Construction Lot

Yeah! Chapter 19 is up! You know, I think I'm kind of over doing it with Hinata's stamering, but hey, I'm probably close enough.

What_ is_ Shizune's pig's name exactly? In episode 160 whatever, Pakkun sort of said it was Kyou, but then I read somewhere that it was Ton-ton. Ahhh! Make up your mind!

Everyone does know that 'nee-san' in Japanese is older sister right? Well, if you didn't know, now you do.

I changed my pen name. Why? Because the name Sasuke Uchiha Itachi sort of made it so that I couldn't reveiw on other fan-fictions that weren't Naruto, or at least I didn't feel confortable with it. Forever more, I will be known as... -Bista- Thanks to SlytherinProngs for confirming on what happens.

Yay, 50 reviews! All of them, every single one of them, has helped me further this story.

On that note, if I look back on my other chapters, I can actually see how my writing has improved. Pretty cool, however some of those chapters I see as completly useless, such as chapter 7. Even though it helped somewhat with the story plot, it's sort of lame.

Enough of my chattering, on with the chapter!

**Note: **I do NOT own Naruto or any of it's characters. All I own is my plot, the Element Users and the many characters I have come up with for this story/fan-fiction.

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**Chapter 19:**

**Construction Lot**

"I can't believe it!" Tenten raged on the following week along side Sakura, Ino, and Hinata. "He is _such _an idiot! I'm already fifteen and I'm turning sixteen this year, but _no _he decides these rules have to apply to us too! I swear, someday, I'm going to kill him!"

"I-I'm sure he… he had-d good reas-sons," Hinata encouraged as best she could. "The way you… you always g-go on ab-bout him, this isn't-t anything n-new."

"You obviously haven't been hearing right," Tenten snapped. "Gai-sensei is has _always _been an idiot, but this is way too far! It's always 'youthful' this and 'youthful' that and everything Lee does he praises him for it, paying absolutely no attention to me and Neji. I've had enough of him!"

"Tenten, these rules apply to everyone in the village," Sakura pointed out. "They're aimed more at people _our_ age, but never the less, everyone. I know he's making a big deal about it, but Hinata's right: this isn't anything new."

"By the way, where are we going exactly?" Ino asked. "You guys just told me to meet you in front of my house but you never said where we were going."

"To the Hokage's office to see how many rules these people intend to impose on us," Sakura told her bluntly. "They only told us five, but they said there was more."

"Hey Sakura, where'd Sasuke go anyway?" Tenten inquired, referring to when she met Sakura earlier that morning talking to Sasuke before he vanished.

"He went to report to Hokage-sama for a mission," Sakura said with a sigh. "Since it's just the ANBU that go on missions now, I doubt he'll be around that much."

As the four girls went by the tea shop, the Jounins watched them from their seats near the window carefully. Kurenai reviewed how Hinata acted around her friends, her forehead protector put away carefully in her weapons pack, which was now empty. Asuma sat beside her, closer to the ask tray, his forehead protector also hidden. Gai and Kakashi sat on the other side, Kakashi's face hidden in his book. Gai was trying to suppress his laughter, not paying any attention to Tenten at all.

"Come on Kakashi, it isn't that bad," he was trying to say, his voice cracked up by his giggling. "All you need is a parrot and say 'arrrr' a lot and you'll be fine!"

"Come on Gai, stop teasing him," Kurenai said, feeling a bit of sympathy for her friend. "He can't keep his left eye open too long and he can't wear his forehead protector for a while. An eye-patch was the only solution."

Asuma poked her on the shoulder to get her attention. She looked over at him and he pointed to a bit of newspaper sticking out from Kakashi's book. That proved he wasn't really reading the book but the newspaper article. Gai was still going on about Kakashi's eye-patch, so Asuma changed the subject.

"Hey Kurenai, Hinata's sure getting along with the other girls," he said casually, at the same time trying to get Gai to notice Tenten. "She normally isn't like that, is she?"

"Well, her father's been making her hang out with more people lately," Kurenai answered, taking the hint and speaking loud enough so Gai could hear her. "Apparently it's because one of the Element Users is always from Hyuuga. Hiashi doesn't want any trouble, so he's making sure Hinata isn't on the suspects list."

"Oh, didn't you hear? They found the Hyuuga Element User a few days ago."

Everyone turned to stare at Kakashi, putting down his book and adjusting his eye-patch. He still wore his mask and his forehead protector was hidden from view. Kurenai stared at him with her mouth wide open and Asuma's eyes had become big. Gai didn't really know what everyone was surprised about, but he was playing along in staring at Kakashi as well.

"What did you say?" Kurenai asked in disbelief. "They caught an Element User already?"

"Not exactly," Kakashi said, handing the newspaper article out for her to see. "They found where he was, but he had been missing for a while."

"What element was he?" Asuma asked, gotten over his shock.

"Snow or ice, no one's really sure."

"So he was in Yuki," Gai said to himself, starting to catch on. "If he was missing for a while though, how'd they find him?"

"They didn't, according to the report," Asuma said, taking the piece of newspaper from Kakashi and scanning it quickly. "They found where his home was but didn't find him at all."

'_A Yuki house-hold was raided on January the fifth in an attempt to find one of the six Element Users hiding in our land. In the home, a middle aged woman from the Hyuuga Clan named Hyuuga Shinyaku, was hiding in the basement, signs of being there for at least a couple weeks. ANBU questioned her and found out that her son, Hyuuga Kohaku, had been missing for quite some time. She knew that he was an Element User of what she wouldn't reveal, and the boy's brother was also an Element User. She wouldn't reveal where he was hiding, but said that he was not a Hyuuga. Under interrogation until just a while ago, the woman committed suicide so as not to give away any further information. No other developments have been made to the Element User case. Once there is, we'll be the first to let you know.'_

"Well, that sure puts a twist on things," Kurenai commented under her breath.

"I totally forgot there are other Hyuuga clans outside of Konoha," Asuma sighed.

"Shinyaku killed herself in order to save her sons' lives," Gai wailed, tears streaming down his face. "I would have loved for her to be my mother!"

The other three rolled their eyes at him, dismissing him from their minds.

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"So you're wearing it on your wrist now?" Iruka asked, training with Naruto. "Won't that get in the way of you're shuriken throwing?"

Naruto had just explained what had happened at the party and the reason for all the ninja being here all the time now. He was currently whacking the living daylights out of a punching bag hanging from a tree branch, taking his anger out on the poor sack. He stopped for a moment to nod to his former teacher and then went back to punching it.

"I've had all my weapons banned from me in the first place," he said between punches. "All for the sake of one guy in the whole village. They must be insane."

With a sudden jerking movement from the punching bag, Naruto looked up to see Sasuke sitting there, ready for a mission and watching him with his cold eyes. Naruto frowned at him, trying to make out what was different.

"_He can't wear his forehead protector either_," Naruto remembered, spotting the difference. "_Everyone looks so different without it covering their foreheads_."

"Hey Sasuke," Iruka called, walking to the tree. "What brings you here? Don't you have a mission?"

"I was wondering if I could borrow Naruto from you for the day," Sasuke explained, making sure not to make eye contact the blonde. "I could use the help on my next mission."

"And this is approved by Hokage-sama?" Iruka asked, clearly suspicious of his former raven-haired pupil.

"Of course," Sasuke said, bowing his head slightly to the older man.

"We were just training, that's all," Naruto butted in, taking Sasuke's hint. "I'll go with him. See you later Iruka-sensei!"

Sasuke stood up and jumped to a different branch, Naruto just behind him. When they were out of earshot, Naruto jumped ahead of Sasuke and turned to face him.

"Why'd you do that?" he whined, putting his hands on his hips and pouting. "That was one of the only times I'm going to see Iruka-sensei for the next little while."

"I need to show you something," Sasuke hurried on. "It's just a little ways into the village. Come on, we don't have all day."

Before Naruto could complain, Sasuke began to move forward again, not slowing down the least bit for Naruto to catch up. For a moment, Naruto wondered if this really was Sasuke or some other guy impersonating him. He put that thought aside, hurrying to catch up to him.

"_I'll find out soon enough_," he thought, sighing inwardly.

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"Come on, cousin Neji, it's not that bad! No one will notice a thing!"

Ten year old Hanabi was trying to get Neji to come outside to play with her but because he couldn't wear his forehead protector to cover his cursed seal anymore, he refused to leave his room. Looking inside with the Byakugan, she saw he wasn't doing anything but lying on his bed and staring at the ceiling.

"Please?" she begged again. When there wasn't an answer, she went to plan two: threatening. "Daddy taught me how to activate that seal of yours. If you don't come out, you'll be sorry!"

"Go ahead," Neji muttered, turning over so she couldn't see his face anymore. "With you're little body, the worst thing you'll be able to do is give me a headache."

Hanabi deactivated her Byakugan and a moment later, a scream came from the other side of the door from her, violent thrashing noises as books were knocked off their shelves came along with it.

"All right, all right! I give up!" Neji wailed in a pain stricken cry.

Hanabi blinked. "I didn't do anything," she said in a small voice.

Neji burst through the door with his hand over his forehead and ran straight into Hiashi.

"Sorry," he apologized quickly, trying to hide his pain. "I didn't see you there."

"That's all fine," Hiashi said calmly. "Next time, though, I expect you to follow my daughter's orders."

Only just then did Neji realize that Hiashi was the one who had activated his seal. Hanabi stood behind her father giggling as Neji bowed to the main house member in an awkward way.

"Now, you can take Hanabi behind the Hokage's office to train," he instructed after a while. "You can help her brush up on a couple of taijutsu moves there for a while. Hinata said she'd meet her there later today. After that you are to come back here immediately. Understood?"

"Understood sir," Neji said. Straightening up, he added, "There's no longer a reason to worry about the Hyuuga Element User sir. He has been confirmed in Yuki though is still on the loose."

"Very well," Hiashi said, visibly more relaxed. "You may tell Hinata that when you meet her. Off you go now."

Hanabi ran ahead of her older cousin as Neji walked calmly behind her. He still seethed the main branch, yet the pain he had felt wasn't nearly as bad as it could've been. There was still a slight throbbing in his head but he could easily ignore it. When they got to the center of the village, however, things got a little complicated…

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"What the heck is this!" Naruto shouted at they reached to center of the village.

He and Sasuke stood before a huge building that anyone could swear wasn't there yesterday. It was circular all the way around, and could very well be as high up as the 'Great Stone Faces'. Some men that had been hired by the Hokage were on top of it, barely able to keep balance on the slippery roof. They were putting some sort of liquid into it, but what exactly it was couldn't be seen.

"What do you think it is?" Sasuke asked quietly, not expecting an answer. "Right now, it's anyone's guess but from what I can tell, it can't be good."

"Is this your mission?" Naruto asked, turning to the teen beside him.

Sasuke shook his head. "Hokage-sama said it was against her will to build this thing, and that it was by order of the feudal lord. Those guys up there were given strict orders from the lord himself, so even she doesn't know what's going in there."

"Then why'd you bring me here?" Naruto asked stubbornly.

"I need you to find out what they're doing," Sasuke said, looking Naruto straight in the eye. "I have to go to Yuki to help investigate this Kohaku person, but I should be back by tomorrow."

Naruto had seen how uncomfortable Sasuke had seemed when he told him what his mission was. Then he remembered: Kohaku was the name of that person that Sasuke had met during their escorting mission to Kumo, obviously a friend.

"Sasuke…" Naruto started. He wanted to ask Sasuke about that medallion, but he couldn't find the right words.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke! Over here!"

Both boys looked over as Sakura came running over, accompanied by Ino, Hinata and Tenten. All four girls looked just as confused as Naruto and only then did Naruto notice there were many other villagers crowded around the building.

"Any ideas?" Ino asked as she stopped to stare.

"Nope," Naruto said.

"Nee-san!" Hanabi yelled as she and Neji came running her way. "Nee-san, do you know what it is?"

"N-no, I don't th-think anyone he-re knows," Hinata stammered, forcing herself to smile.

Neji walked over to Hinata and whispered, "Remind me to stay away from her. She acts so formal in front of Hiashi-sama but she's like a five year old with me."

Hinata giggled slightly and looked down at her younger sister.

"Hey, why don't we just ask those men up there what the deal is?" Tenten suggested.

"Because they're probably bound to secrecy," Naruto told her, not bothering to back it up with logic.

"What do you think Sas…" Sakura started, looking around for him wildly. "He disappeared again!"

"He does have a mission," Tenten pointed out, not taking her eyes off the huge building. "You told me yourself."

"Hey, do all you people down want to know what it is that we're doing up here?" one of the men up top shouted down.

Around the whole construction lot, cries of absolute certainty arose, leaving the group of ninja to cover their ears.

"Well I'll tell you!" he shouted again, this time with a bit of a slur.

"I think he's drunk," Ino whispered.

"This building here is to help us capture the Element User," he said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Just you wait; when this is done, we'll find that fire guy in a flash!"

Throughout the crowd shouts of agreement and disagreement rang out louder than before. Naruto tensed. He was becoming more and more sure Sasuke was connected to these people, and finding and destroying the Element User here might just piss him off enough to leave again. Confidence began to swell up inside of him.

"_Next time I see him, I'll ask him about it for sure_," he silently promised himself. "_I don't care how mad at me he gets, I need to know_."

Inside the bushes, a white haired boy with Byakugan eyes sniggered. On top of the shoulder of his white cloak, a tiny polar bear sat half asleep.

"Good luck revealing the Element User of Fire," Kohaku said to the drunken man, not loud enough that someone would hear him yet quiet enough to snap Shive from her half sleep. "If there's anyone that is good at hiding, it's him."

And with that, he raised his hand and in a scatter of powdered snow, was gone. From where he was hiding, Sasuke could see the tiny trail of freezing air that lead to where he had gone. He swore under his breath. What the heck was Kohaku doing here in broad daylight? And in his white cloak no less. He put on his ANBU mask and disappeared, heading for Yuki within a teleportation technique.

"_I'll deal with him later_," Sasuke thought. "_Right now, I've got to convince these stupid ANBU members that there isn't anything that can be done to find him. On top of that, I have to check up on Imara and Sota. Geez, I'm not the leader this time, so why do I have to do everything?_"

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"Shizune, come look at this," Tsunade ordered.

The younger woman came jogging over, Ton-ton clutched in her hands. She stopped beside Tsunade in front of the window looking out onto the Hidden Village in the Leaves.

"Yes Tsunade-sama?"

"Look," she said again, pointing to a rather large tree house in one of the villages oldest trees.

"That tree house has been there for a while," Shizune pointed out.

"Not the actual house, what's inside it!" Tsunade snapped.

Shizune squinted her eyes, trying to make out what was inside of the little window in the house. As her eyes became more focused, she saw millions upon millions of barrels inside the huge tree house. She could only just make out the words that described the contents, but as she read, she became horrified.

"Extremely toxic acid?" she gasped. "Why is that in there?"

Tsunade pointed to a further location, her eyes as wide as ever. It took Shizune a minute to trace her exact point, but when she did, she too stared in astonishment. The men that the feudal lord had hired were carrying the barrels to the huge building in the middle of the village and dumping the acid into the roof of it.

"They're filling it with acid?" she said almost to herself. "What for?"

"From what I heard, that building will speed up the discovery of the fire Element User," Tsunade explained, walking back to her desk. "What the acids purpose is, I really don't want to imagine."


	20. Birthday Party Bash

Hello again. Chapter 20 is up!

This chapter was originally going to be like a filler chapter because I had a _TOTAL_ mental block, but as I was typing it I found a way to make it a must-have sort of thing in the plot. Now I don't know how I would explain everything without it!

Yeah, I know I already said that I wasn't going to use _chan_ and _kun_ and stuff, but I've come up with a way for it to work:

1) I only use _san_ if the people are being respectful and don't really know each other

2) _Sama_ is only used when the person/animal _(hint, hint)_ is talking to his/her boss or leader or whatever. Now you know.

Geez, I've been meaning to say it for a while but I kept forgetting. In chapter 16 when I said it was the Setsu Sharingan, well, that was before I knew that it went Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu, and then Susaoo _(sorry if you didn't want to know that yet)_ but this is a fanfiction right? So that's how it's going to be. I'm probably going to change the name I made up however, but that wouldn't be important, now would it?

We are slowly reaching the climax of the story/fanfiction. Next chapter contains the scene that got me motivated to make this fanfiction a reality _(you know what I mean)_ so... Yeah.

Enough with the blabbering I seem to like doing, on with the chapter!

**Note:** I don't own Naruto or any of it's characters. All I own is my plot, the Element Users and and many, many, MANY characters I've made up.

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**Chapter 20:**

**Birthday Party Bash**

"So, what exactly _are_ you doing for your party?" Ino asked Sakura while walking back from the grocery store.

"Didn't you read the invitation?" Sakura asked, trying to keep both paper bags from falling on the ground. "'Meet in front of the weird, big building before heading to my house, where we'll party all night long and maybe sneak inside that bizarre place'" she recited.

"Yeah, but that doesn't really tell me what we're doing," Ino pointed out, almost tripping over a stone in the ground. After regaining her footing, she added, "Who'd you invite?"

"You, Hinata, Tenten and Lee," Sakura said proudly.

"Aren't you going to invite Sasuke or Naruto?"

"Well, you can bring one other person," Sakura explained. "I'm bringing Naruto as that one person. I'm guessing Tenten will bring Neji and you'll bring Shikamaru. I told Lee not to bring Gai and I don't know if Hinata will bring anyone at all."

"Why aren't you bringing Sasuke?" Ino asked. "Did you two have a fight or something?"

"No, he's on a mission tonight," Sakura said with a sigh. "I told him he could come later if he's back, but I doubt he'll make it back from Ishi if he's leaving at six."

"Oh," Ino sighed. "Well, I'll be there for sure! Meet at eight right? Oh, I'll just look on the card. Bye!"

Sakura looked around confused for a second before she realized they had reached Ino's house. Smiling, she nodded a good-bye and kept walking to her own house. Once there, she gave the groceries to her mother and went up to her room to finish planning for the party. Her calendar read March twenty-eighth and her clock said it was five. Two hours to plan and one to set everything up. Naruto's words to her the day before still rang in her head:

"_Sasuke asked me to investigate what that building is for since he'll be on continuous missions for the next little. All I know so far is that the roof is filled with acid and that everyone turning fifteen this year will find out what it's for soon enough. I would really appreciate it if your party had something to do with that building. You don't have to if you don't want to, but you'd be doing both me and Sasuke a huge favour._"

Sakura got out her planning book and lay on her bed face up. There were still guards that weren't ninja circling the weird place twenty-four seven, but sneaking inside would be easy for a real ninja. They could use Hinata's Byakugan to check when it was safe to get in and out, so that only left what they would do with whatever they found inside. Would it be small and light enough to take back with them, or would it we rooted into the ground. And what about that acid? Where would it be, and what would it be used for?

Sakura shook herself a little to clear her mind. Asking more questions about that building wouldn't help her plan the rest of the party. She set to work jotting down notes for her party, not giving the unusual building another thought. Later that day, she really wished she had.

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Naruto looked over his list one last time before he gave up. The piece of paper dropped to the ground, showing a list of possible presents for Sakura. He had decided that she didn't need any more medical supplies and getting her something for her hair... well, you just don't get those kinds of things for a girl's birthday present, especially if the girl you're dealing with happens to be Haruno Sakura and you happen to be Uzumaki Naruto. Other than that, he couldn't think of anything else to get her. Naruto screwed up his eyes in frustration and lead himself down the alleys of his mind to where the Kyuubi lay in wait.

"What do you want now Naruto?" it asked in a somewhat friendly tone rather than it's normal inhospitable voice.

"Sakura's birthday is coming up in a couple of hours and I still don't know what to get her," Naruto complained, seating himself down in front of the huge cage. "Any ideas?"

"Sakura is that pink haired girl, is she not?" Kyuubi thought out loud. "Well, she can summon slugs can't she? Get her something that will also be nice for one of her slugs."

"I guess that might work," Naruto grumbled. "Any other news on the Element Users I should know about?"

"Only that you've actually made contact with the boy on more than one occasion," It told him casually. "Nothing big."

"Nothing big! What are you talking about, that's huge!" Naruto shouted, jumping to his feet. "Who is he? Is he really dangerous? What should I do?"

"Hold your horses kiddo," It joked, chuckling slightly. "I can't tell you anymore. He actually came in here to tell me not to tell you. Quite an amazing kid."

"WHAT!"

"I'm tired. Go get Sakura's present now."

Naruto suddenly found himself laying on his bed in a slight daze. He tried to get more information from the creature but it had gone to sleep.

"_Great, just when I get a good lead it decides to ditch me_," Naruto thought. "_At least I can tell Sasuke it's a guy we know, or at least I do._" He sat up on his bed, stretching. "Time to get Sakura's present! Something to do with slugs… I'll check the pet store first!"

And with that, he was off to the closest pet shop, and soon to the next one, and the one after that. How hard is it to find a shop with stuff for slugs!

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The party had been great so far. Tenten had indeed brought Neji (but why he agreed to come was beyond anyone) and the two of them had gotten Sakura a kitty plush toy. Ino and Shikamaru had gotten her a different type of hair spray and Hinata (who hadn't brought anyone) had given her a small canister of the Hyuuga clan's special medical cream. Lee surprised everyone by not bringing anyone, and had gone out of his way to get her a bouquet of roses with a note that asked her to go out with him someday. Sakura had turned completely and utterly red. Naruto, who felt really stupid by now, had gotten her slug treats.

"I know it's not really for you, but, you know," he had said when she unwrapped it. "But, I thought you could use something to cheer up one of your slugs on a rainy day, you know?"

Sakura had stared at the tiny bottle of slug treats for about a minute before she put it aside. "Thank you Naruto," she had said, she expression hidden from her face as well as her voice. "I'll be sure to use it someday."

That had been about an hour ago. It was coming on for ten o'clock now, and Sakura had planned something special.

"Guess what everyone?" she shouted over the blaring music that was playing. "In a couple of minutes, we'll all go to that weird new building and try to find out what's inside! Shikamaru, I need you to come up with a plan with me. The rest of you get ready."

As Shikamaru can strutting over, muttering something about how troublesome it was to be smart, Sakura pushed a bunch of papers in his face, stating that those were her current plans and he had to look over them and make any changes that might have to be made. Shikamaru stared at her and then at her plans.

"You really thought this out, didn't you?" he said after a while.

"I did it before I made the rest of the plans for the party," she said sheepishly. "Do you think they're ok?"

"They should be fine," he said under his breath, "If you want, we'll treat this as a mission and I'll lead?"

"That'd be great!" Sakura exclaimed. She then turned her attention to the rest of the group. "Let's move out!"

As the group ran past the many houses that lined the streets, Naruto wondered why Sakura had decided to take his favour. Perhaps she too wanted to know what was in the building. He was running right beside a blushing Hinata, constantly looking over at her to see if she would say anything. She kept quiet the entire way, until they were about three quarters of the way there.

"N-naruto," she said quietly. "D-do you know w-why S-sakura wants to… to explore this s-scary p-pl… place."

Naruto looked at her and finally noticed what he hadn't seen before. She was scared, and the only way she would go through with this was to be reassured by her loved one. Naruto smiled.

"Because," he said softly. "Sakura wants to find out what's going on in there as much as any other person. She's doing this so that everyone in the village will put at ease about what's in there."

Hinata looked at Naruto in surprise before she nodded and turned back to the street in front of her.

"_I know we're doing something bad_," she thought. "_But Naruto's right; we need to know what's going on in there for the sake of everyone else in the village._"

Sakura put up her hand and everyone stopped. They had come to the weird looking building. Shikamaru quickly instructed Neji to scan the other side of the building with his Byakugan and got Hinata to do the same with the surrounding buildings to check if anyone was watching. When that was all done, they moved closer to the double-doors. Hinata quickly checked the inside of the building for anyone inside. When it was confirmed there was no life at all within, they proceeded to open the doors.

It had many locks on it, along with a couple of seals. The seals were taken care of by Neji and the locks picked by Ino and her hairclips. While all this was happening, Lee and Naruto had gone off to the side and in only a couple of seconds had put a hole in the wall by force.

"What'd you do that for?" Sakura whispered feverishly. "Someone's bound to notice a huge hole in the side!"

"Would you relax?" Naruto said in a normal talking tone. "It's not like it would fit an elephant inside. It's just big enough for us to barely squeeze through."

"But someone _is_ going to notice," Tenten said gravely. "For all you know, we'll be tracked down by sunrise and be dead!"

"Oh, hush up," Shikamaru said, squeezing through the hole. "We might as well find out what's in here before we die then, shall we?"

Tenten and Sakura pouted as one by one the party members filed into the strange building. It was completely dark inside and it took a couple minutes for everyone's eyes to adjust. When they did, all they could do was stare.

"It is an auditorium," Lee breathed, the first to break the silence.

It was true; the building was simply just a big auditorium. There was a stage on the other side of them, and on either side of them there were rows and rows of seats. Naruto immediately looked up to see where the acid was being poured. To his astonishment, all he saw was a normal ceiling, lights, rafters and all.

"I d-don't like i-it here, N-naruto," Hinata stammered, clinging onto him. "It… it gives m-me the cr-reeps."

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" a voice from up in the rafters mocked. "Some little kiddies that have ventured into a forbidden area of their village in search of adventure. Pathetic."

Neji looked up and activated his Byakugan. Looking all around the area of the ceiling, he couldn't see the man that had addressed them.

"Oh, you have two from Hyuuga with you. No wonder you were so confident," he mocked again, a sneer auditable in his voice. "You thought you could look inside and see if there was someone inside or not. Well I've got news for you: I have perfected the art of invisibility. Even the great Hyuuga clan with its mighty Byakugan cannot see me."

Sakura froze. She had just lead everyone into great danger. As if reading her thoughts, Shikamaru quietly reminded her that both her and himself were the leaders of this mission. It didn't make her feel any better. Hinata looked over at Naruto's brave expression in the face of danger and got enough courage to take a look for herself. Activating her Byakugan to its maximum, she still couldn't see the man that had spoken. Then, just out of the corner of her eye, she saw a slight shimmer. It was only for a second, but she knew that's where he was.

"N-naruto," she said softly. When Naruto looked at her, she continued. "R-right there. Th-that's where h-he is."

Naruto nodded and jumped onto the wall behind them. He crept slowly and surely and even though he was in orange, he was able to blend into the darkness quite thoroughly. He quietly made a Shadow Clone and tried to make a Rasengan. Just when he finally realized he couldn't, he fell right on his face on the floor beneath him.

"Thought you could attack me did you?" the voice sniggered. "This place has a strong seal on it that forbids you to use chakra. You managed to get a bit up the wall only because it took a moment for the seal to kick in."

"There's no way to break the seal either," he continued. "Only the feudal lord's chakra is capable of breaking it."

"Okay, you've made your point. We'll just be leaving now," Ino shouted, her voice echoing in the empty room.

"It's not that simple," the unseen man said, suddenly serious. "You have seen something that you cannot see and are not supposed to see until later in this year. My orders were to make sure no one was allowed in this room. You, however, have gotten in, so now I have no choice."

One of the lights in the room was turned on and the man undid his jutsu. He wore a mask, and looked like any other ANBU in the village. He took out his katana and lunged at the group. Everything was still for a moment. The girls screamed and Shikamaru tried to get out the hole again. Neji stared straight ahead and seemed to accept his fate. Naruto ducked and Lee seemed to be frozen. Right when he was in front of the group, the light went out. Sakura felt a sudden wind buffet her and a _ching_ sound echoed in the auditorium as if two swords had parried each other.

All the lights when on after that, and a stunning scene was unveiled. Sasuke, still dressed in his mission outfit, had taken out one of his two katanas and was holding the strange man at bay. He had taken off his mask and from the dirt on his face and his ragged breath, he had come as fast as he possibly could, and believe me, that's fast. Shikamaru was only half out of the hole but had stopped dead in his tracks to stare. When the last of Ino's screams had died down, both ANBU members jumped away from each other, Sasuke closer to his comrades and the man further away.

"Uchiha Sasuke-san," he breathed. "I should've guessed as much. I thought the one in pink and the one in orange were your team mates. But you should know as well as I that they cannot live."

Sasuke held the man's gaze with Sharingan activated, his panting starting to die down. Naruto stood up and shook Lee to wake him of his trance. Neji also snapped and ran over to Hinata to check if she was okay. Sakura and Ino just stared at the man that had nearly killed them, and Tenten had slowly retreated to the back of the group.

"I am aware of that," Sasuke said after a very long pause. "However, _Shinzaburo Toshiro-san, _don't you think that killing them is a bit harsh?"

Toshiro took off his mask and sighed. He had a long face, along with dark red hair and a moustache to accompany it. He scratched his chin thoughtfully as everyone held their breath.

"I suppose your right," he sighed. "But they can't tell a soul. They can't even whisper anything about it. That Element User is tricky."

"We will promise," Lee said boldly. "You have my word on it for as long as my youthfulness lasts."

Tenten and Neji rolled their eyes as Shikamaru slapped his forehead.

"A promise isn't going to cut it," Toshiro went on. "At this point, you have two choices: One, you be put under high maintenance surveillance by ANBU members or I can get Sasuke-san to make a seal by blood that will prevent you from saying anything."

"Well, I for one would rather be forced to not say anything than have a complete stranger watching me every single second of the day," Naruto muttered under his breath to Hinata.

"We'll take the second option," Sakura said confidently. "We just need to know one more thing before we are never to speak of this incident again."

All eyes turned to the pink haired medic-nin as she took a deep breath. Sasuke sheathed his katana and looked over at her as well, deactivating the Sharingan.

"We want to know what the acid in the roof is for and why it's not leaking down on us," she said, her last few syllables coming out with a squeak.

Toshiro grinned. "It's not leaking on us because there's chakra mixed into it," he said smoothly. "Also, there are multiple layers of the roof, each with their own amount of acid. What it's for, however, is for those special ANBU going around and the feudal lord himself to know only."

Sasuke took out a blank scroll, a paint brush and some ink and wrote down something unreadable with a swirl in the middle. He made a couple hand signs which seemed to make the ink glow and got everyone to put at least one drop of blood on it. When that was done, he made a few more hand signs before the scroll burst into flames.

"We should get out of here," he said quietly to Sakura after. "Toshiro-san may have spared your life, but that doesn't mean he can't change his mind."

Sakura nodded and quickly climbed out of the hole, followed by Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, Tenten, and Neji. Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke hung back for a couple more moments. Naruto nudged Hinata to follow the rest of the group, and she did so quicker than he had ever seen her move.

"Don't think they'll get away with this Sasuke-san," Toshiro said, eyeing the younger ANBU. "You might have kept them from saying anything about it, but they'll remember it for as long as they wish."

"I'm aware of that Toshiro-san," Sasuke said respectfully, bowing his head slightly. "However, as long as they say nothing, you can pretend this never happened." Sasuke turned to leave, calling over his shoulder, "You might want to fix that wall before sunrise."

Toshiro jumped back to his normal spot and redid his invisibility jutsu without another word, turning out the lights and plunging Naruto back into darkness. In reality, Naruto's mind was already filled with darkness, the kind that tests your friendship with someone. Sasuke had asked Naruto to investigate this stupid building, but if he knew that there was someone inside that was undetectable even to the Byakugan, why did he practically ask him to find out what was inside? Naruto shook his head to clear it and stepped out into the night air. Everyone else was gone, but Sasuke still stood looking up into the stars.

"I'd keep away from this building for the next little while," he said softly, closing his eyes. "From what I hear, we'll all be back inside by summer."

Naruto was about to ask him what he meant but realized he would've been talking to the air. Sasuke had disappeared again but Naruto had a feeling he knew more than he would tell anyone. Maybe he knew all along what was inside, but couldn't say it directly so he made Naruto assume that he had to go inside. Maybe it was just a mistake he said anything at all, but there was still was the possibility that he was playing right into Sasuke's hands.


	21. The Element User of Fire

Yay! The longest chapter I've ever written! Ha! Well, the last ----- marksthe first vision thingy I got for this story, hence theinspiration to write/type this story out, so... yeah.

Now I'm confused! What the heck is the difference between (random pairing here) Sasuke x Sakura and Sakura x Sasuke? Or SasSakand SakSas? I don't get it! I heard sort of that it had something with the last person being the 'uke' or something like that, but I still don't get it. I _really_ don't get it. Seriously, it's scaring me. But hey, you're talking to a person who only _just_ found out what 'yaoi' is, so don't blame me.

I'm going to be helping my friend with a story that we've both come up with on a different account (Mali-Bista)for a while, so chapters might be a bit slower than they usually are. Thought I'd warn you.

From now on, I don't really know where I'm going with this story. I know how everything's going to end, but I don't really know how I'm going to get there. I'll figure it out, but I might end up making a filler chapter kind of thing to gather my thoughts. Just another warning.

As you can tell from the title of the chapters, things are going to change big time in this chapter, so be prepared. hehe

**Note**: I don't own Naruto, or any other the characters. All I own is my plot, the Element Users, and the many characters I've made up for this fan-fiction, since that's all it is, a fan-fiction.

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Chapter 21:

**The Element User of Fire**

Naruto was lying next to Shikamaru, watching the clouds roll by on a hot July day without a care in the world. The life of a ninja without missions was pretty boring. Shikamaru didn't seem to care; he was always saying how troublesome it was to do nothing, but at the same time how nice it was to have a break for once. There was no threat of war as other villages were also forbidden to take missions. The only hidden villages authorized to take missions and give them to any ninja level were the hidden villages of Rain, Falls, Grass, Star, and all the other minor villages save for Yuki. Sasuke was always away on one mission or other, and since she couldn't go on missions for the moment, Sakura had resumed her medical training with Tsunade.

At least there was one good thing about the mission cut back: Hinata had gotten closer to Naruto. She was sitting up on his other side, looking out onto the peaceful landscape that stretched out before her. Her smiling face put a smile on Naruto's face, as he sat up to talk.

"You know, this no mission thing is annoying, but it give you time to relax," he said quietly, trying to find with his eyes where she was looking.

Shikamaru opened his eyes and stared at the two, the emotion hidden from his eyes.

"Did you read the paper today Naruto?" he asked causally, closing his eyes again.

"No," he said, getting curious.

"How about the message boards?"

"Nope."

Didn't you get a message from those ANBU guys?"

"Na-uh"

Shikamaru sighed, sitting up as well. "All people that will turn or already have turned fifteen are ordered to meet inside that auditor…"

His voice faltered as his lips sealed up, preventing him from saying anything more about what was inside the odd building. Hinata rushed over to help him as Naruto clutched his stomach with laughter. The same thing had happened when he had tried to tell Sakura about his beliefs about Sasuke and how it might have been a trap. Naruto was practically copying what Sakura had done when _his_ lips sealed up.

"S-stop trying t-to talk, Shi-shikamaru," Hinata told him, trying to get his lips unsealed. "It… it will only ma-make it w-worse."

Shikamaru finally opened his mouth, his lips streaming with blood, panting slightly and giving Naruto an evil eye. Naruto pressed a finger to his lips to stop him from laughing. It didn't work.

"Not funny," Shikamaru commented, wiping his mouth and standing up to leave. "Well, anyway, we're supposed to meet in that building tonight. Apparently the feudal lord wants to tell us all something."

"W-will everyone we… we know b-be there?" Hinata asked timidly, willing herself not to squeak.

"Everyone who turned fifteen already this year and those that will later," Shikamaru confirmed, licking his bloody lips. "If I were you Hinata, I would make sure you were with Naruto tonight to make sure he actually goes. It starts at ten."

And with that, he walked away, most likely to see Sakura to get his lips to stop bleeding, muttering something about Sasuke and his troublesome seals. Naruto had stopped laughing by then and was turning over the new information with the Kyuubi, aware of Hinata's gaze upon him. After about a minute, he stood up and stated he was going home now and that she could come with him if she liked. Hinata shook her head and, blushing madly, bowed a short goodbye and ran toward the Hyuuga compound. Naruto shrugged and set off walking in the opposite direction toward his apartment house, staring at the ground and trying to think of what the feudal lord wanted with all them.

"Hey Big-Bro Naruto!" a young, cheery voice called from up above.

Naruto turned to see Konohamaru and his friends Moegi and Udon jumping down from the tree branch they were hiding on. The Konohamaru Corps had become Team Ebisu when they passed the academy just a year ago. Now, all three of them were ten, and had taken the Chuunin exam once already, however they didn't make it passed the second part.

Konohamaru had kept his hair at a reasonable length, but hadn't changed anything else. His clothes were the same as they were two years ago except longer to keep up with his height. He was up to Naruto's chest in height; however he was a tiny bit shorter than Udon. His scarf had been shortened and now only reached to the middle of his back. Normally, his forehead protector would be proudly worn around his forehead, but because of the new law, it was currently around his neck, much like Hinata.

Moegi had grown quite a bit; in fact, she was a couple inches taller than Konohamaru and Udon, reaching up to Naruto's chin. Her hairstyle hadn't really changed all that much, however she had grown it out a lot and where her normal ponies were there were now ribbons. When she took her hair out of her top pink-tails, it reached down to the back of her knees. She had taken up medical techniques, and because of it, was the group's medic-nin. Her pink dress split on the sides like Sakura's and her forehead protector was around neck as well.

Udon was probably the one that changed the most. He wore prescription goggles so he didn't have to keep pushing his glasses up his nose during a battle. Kakashi had noticed that they were much like the goggles Obito used to wear, except he kept them on all the time. His hair hadn't changed much, maybe a tiny bit longer. His long-sleeved shirt was completely black and his shorts were a pure white with a couple dirt stains here and there. Just like his team mates, he too had put his forehead protector around his neck. Naruto had given up telling the younger shinobi that he needed to wipe his nose, and had gotten used to it by now.

"Hey Konohamaru, Moegi, Udon," Naruto greeted. "What're you guys up to?"

"We were going to ask you the same thing," Moegi said, always the one to engage a full conversation. "Are you going to see Sakura-san?"

Moegi had gained quite a lot of respect for the older kunoichi, going as far as following her and acting upon her every order for a whole week. Obviously, she wanted to be just like her.

"Don't be silly," Udon said sharply, fixing his eyes on his female team mate. "Sakura's training with Hokage-sama today. Plus, her house is the other way."

Naruto scratched the back of his head. Looks like Udon was copying Sasuke's old attitude, as was Moegi with Sakura and Konohamaru with himself. Maybe these guys were the replacement Team Kakashi went they were out on a mission.

"I'm just heading home," he assured the team. "Nothing to get worked up about."

"Awwww," they all moaned at once.

"We were hoping you were going to do something to get our missions back," Konohamaru explained. "We've got nothing to do since those laws got up. Ebisu-sensei's been running around doing the Hokage's orders and you've been helter-skelter everywhere."

"He's been busy," Udon snapped, crossing his arms and glaring at him. "He's probably got no time for us right now; let's go."

"Yeah, well, you do what you want," Moegi told him sternly. "I'm going to go see Sakura-san and maybe learn a new healing technique. Bye bye."

She jumped away as Udon shrugged and jumped off toward his own house. That left Konohamaru and Naruto staring at each other. Konohamaru blushed and turned away, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry about them," he said quietly. "They've been like that ever since we didn't pass the Chuunin exam. And it's only gotten worse because of these laws. I'm really starting to get worried…"

Naruto patted him on the shoulder. He knew exactly what Konohamaru was going through. Still, he felt that if he could make sure that Udon didn't leave Konoha like Sasuke had, their team would make it through till the end.

"Keep an eye on Udon for a while," he whispered in his ear. "He seems to be acting like Sasuke did before he left Konoha, and I don't want you to go through that kind of pain."

Konohamaru blinked sympathetically and nodded, turning to get back to his house and running away. Naruto watched him for as long as he could see before he began walking again. When he got back to his house, he locked the door and went to lie on his bed. He knew he shouldn't even bother with the Kyuubi right now; they had a big argument the other day that had left Naruto with a pounding headache. A tap on the window snapped Naruto into the present. He looked over and was amazed to see Kakashi sitting on the window ledge. He waved a cheerful hello before motioning for Naruto to open the window. Naruto did so quickly, for Kakashi only did that when it was something important.

"What is it Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked eagerly and his teacher stepped through the window.

"You need to meet me, Sakura and Sasuke at the bridge at ten to ten tonight," he said hastily. "I actually will be there on time if that's what you're going to ask. All three of you are to go inside the building tonight for a meeting with the feudal lord. Do I make myself clear?"

Naruto nodded. "Sasuke's actually going to be there?"

"Well of course!" Kakashi said, re-adjusting his eye patched and pacing the room. "All missions have been cancelled due to this event." He looked down at Naruto, staring deep into his eyes. "This meeting may very well end this idiotic search for the Element Users."

Naruto swallowed hard, letting the wave of panic die back down to the pit of his stomach. Kakashi nodded and jumped back out the window and away from sight. Naruto sat on his bed, taking in the new information. What was Sasuke going to think when he heard the news? No doubt he actually _knew _who the Element User was, but then why hadn't he told Naruto?

"Kakashi said all missions were cancelled," the Kyuubi hinted, its deep voice echoing in the halls of Naruto's mind. "Maybe he'll be there..."

Naruto was out the door before it had even finished. He ran down the street until he came to Sasuke's apartment building and flew up the stairs to the seventh floor, and was knocking at the door marked seven-four-two in no time at all. Sasuke answered the door dressed in a navy blue t-shirt and black shorts, his long raven hair tied tight behind his head. Surprised, he let Naruto in and closed the door behind him.

"You're keeping secrets from me, aren't you!" Naruto blurted out, unable to contain himself.

Sasuke just stared at him, no expression showing on his face. The plate of his forehead protector had been removed and fitted onto the turtle neck part of this shirt. After a moment or two, he walked over to main bedroom and took a pile of papers that were lying on the bed and handed them to Naruto.

"Those are the reports of the Element Users I've been getting," he said, watching Naruto flip through them. "I was put in charge of any Element User information that can into the village by order of the Hokage. I've also been collecting information from other villages as I went on missions. I figured you and Sakura had enough to worry about."

Naruto looked at the papers but wasn't really reading them. He saw something with Hyuuga Kohaku's name on it, but didn't bother to read the article. There must have been at least a hundred pages there, all about these Element User people. Naruto went over to one of the couches and sat down, trying to calm himself down. Sasuke came later and sat in the other one, seeming as if there was nothing else to do in life.

"So, you would've told us?" Naruto said after a while, breaking the spell of silence.

Sasuke nodded, staring at the ceiling. "I figured that since the Element User case will end tonight, I could tell you now."

Naruto could tell Sasuke was also reassuring himself. He was still tense all over. They sat there like that for quite a while more before Naruto left and didn't meet again until ten.

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"About time," Sakura said to Naruto as he finally joined the rest of the group. "Kakashi said he wasn't going to be late, so there was no point taking so long."

"Sasuke's not here yet you know," Naruto retaliated. "So why are you getting mad at me?"

It was true, Sasuke hadn't shown up yet. It was coming on for five after ten, and Kakashi was growing more and more impatient.

"It's not like him of all people to be late," Kakashi said, looking down the street that Sasuke would walk down.

"And what does he think _we_ feel?" Naruto whispered to Sakura, making her giggle.

"Are you talking about me by any chance?" Sasuke said, crouching on the side of the bridge.

"And where were you?" Kakashi asked sternly.

Sasuke shrugged. "I had to prepare for something," he said plainly, jumping beside Sakura and Naruto.

"_And you're not going to tell us what it was_," Naruto thought with a sigh. "_Figures_."

"Well you've made us late," Kakashi dragged on. "I don't care how you guys get there anymore, just get to that building."

"Sir," all three of them said simultaneously before jumping off.

After they had left, Kakashi was joined by Asuma and Kurenai. Both of them wore the expression of despair, and Kakashi's face soon changed as well.

"Why were you so strict with them?" Asuma asked, standing on Kakashi's right.

"Especially since you know what's going to happen to them," Kurenai added, standing on Kakashi's left.

Kakashi sighed a great, tragic sigh. "I don't really know. I want them to remember me by the real me, not this shell I'm always wearing."

The other two nodded and looked up toward the huge building that would be the team's fate.

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"Names?" the guard asked as the three friends approached the building.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Haruno Sakura."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

The ANBU guard nodded. "It is confirmed you are on the list. You may enter."

He stepped aside so that they could get in, and opened the double doors for them. Sasuke stepped inside first, squinting his eyes as they switched from outside darkness to the lights of the auditorium. The room was jam-packed with people. On a closer inspection, they were all the same age; already or turning fifteen. They were seated in the seats that lined the sides all the way down to the stage. The stage itself was lighted in spot lights, and a microphone was positioned in the center.

"Hey you guys! About time!" Kiba shouted from his seat in the middle-right side.

Team Kakashi went to join them, seating themselves on the three seats that were empty.

"Well, the whole gang's here now," Chouji said, munching on a bag of chips.

"We are _not_ part of you're gang," Neji said stubbornly, slouching in his chair and crossing his arms.

"Hey, why are you guys here?" Naruto asked, looking from Lee, to Tenten to Neji. "Aren't you guys turning sixteen this year?"

"It's all Gai-sensei's fault!" Tenten shouted, finally getting her anger out. "It's 'youthful' this and 'youthful' that but he's gone **_way_** too far this time! He's decided that we need to be 'youthful' and pretend to be fifteen. I tell you, I'm going to kill him when I get out of here!"

"Easy Tenten, easy," Lee tried to soothe, patting her on the back. "I'm still fifteen, remember?"

"Lee, if I were you, I wouldn't provoke her," Shikamaru whispered to him. "She's a girl. Remember? Bad temper?"

Naruto looked over at Sasuke, trying to read his face. Sasuke had gone a bit pale, but he still didn't show any emotion. He was just staring at the stage, his eyes just a bit wider than they usually were.

"_He knows what's going to happen_," Naruto realized with a start. "_And whatever it is, it can't be good._"

A hushed silence followed that thought. All twelve of the ANBU members that were going around stepped onto the stage, in-between them was a miniature man with a funny hat dressed in black robes. Everyone was able to identify him as the feudal lord of the Country of Fire. He stood in front of the microphone and cleared his throat, waiting for the last of the teens to shut their mouths. Six ANBU stood on one side of him, and the other six stood on the other side of him. The feudal lord raised his hands and began to talk.

"Children of Konoha! I'm sure that all of you are aware that this year is the year that the people known as the Element Users gain their full powers. Five out of the six that are in the Shinobi Lands have been found. Their names are as follows: Hyuuga Kohaku of Snow and Ice, Tomenaki Kaiya of Wind, Mishanata Sota of Water, Tsumiga Imara of Earth and Yasashii Kora of Lightning. Unfortunately, they all were able to escape from even our best ANBU members. The only Element User left to find is the Element User of Fire, hidden somewhere in this village. That is why all of you are gathered here tonight. I ask that whoever the Element User is in this room to please stand up."

No one moved. Sakura whispered something to Ino about them really being serious and Sasuke paled even more. Naruto was beginning to get worried about him. He's never seen Sasuke like this. Then again, Sasuke had been in touch with every one of those people, that much he was sure of. He turned his attention back to the feudal lord as he sighed into the microphone.

"I thought as much. Does everyone remember when I had some men putting some sort of liquid inside this building? Well, that was acid. There are many layers of the roof, each with a larger amount of acid inside." He paused to hold up some sort of red button on a thick piece of metal. "When I press this button, one of the roofs will fall away and splatter acid on all of you, thus killing you.

Shrieks of terror and enragement rang out through the crowd, vibrating the room. Tenten had to be held back by Neji and Lee to stop her from storming out and killing Gai. Ino was searching through her bag, desperately trying to find something like an umbrella while Sakura was helping Kiba keep Akamaru from jumping out and biting the feudal lord. Shino was as still as a statue but Chouji wasn't really paying attention. Shikamaru had gone to hide under his chair but wasn't having much luck getting all his limps under. Hinata clung onto Naruto, who was watching Sasuke go from pale to his normal clam again. He was slouched in his chair with his eyes glued to the ceiling as if he could see the acid coming down already. There was some sort of glint in his eye, a glint that Naruto had seen far too many times; the glint of a plan.

There were more screams as the feudal lord held up the button and pressed it. There was a clatter of metal as one of the roofs fell away and began to tumble toward the many people, a large amount of acid following it. Naruto looked up wide eyed as a huge, blue flame ignited the metal and the acid, stopping them from falling any further. Before he had a chance to look where the fire had come from, it died away, leaving no trace that it had ever been there. The feudal lord smiled an evil smile.

"This room has an Element User in it indeed," he said, chuckling a bit. "Everything we thought would happen did. The only difference was that the fire was blue. I thought it would be orange. No matter; there are many other roofs to be dropped. We've pin pointed him to the right side of the building. Ready?"

He pressed the button again as another roof fell away. Once again, the blue flame stopped it. Naruto looked over at Sasuke as the flame burned, but the other boy's eyes were unfocused, still staring up. The feudal lord pressed the button again but the blue flame still held back the falling roof and acid. He handed the remote over to an ANBU member on his left.

"Judging on how fast the Element User is able to react and where the fire starts going up from, we've pinpointed the Element User to be in this area."

A blinding light enveloped the group as a spot light was directed at them. That's when Tenten got out of control. She punched Lee and Neji to get them to let go of her and made a run for the door. In a flash, two ANBU stood in her way, their arms creating a fence. Tenten took out one of her scrolls and threw it at them, exploding raining kunai and shuriken on them. Four of the remaining ANBU jumped to the doors, barricading them. Lee couldn't watch any longer and ran to help her. Not to be outdone by Lee, Neji ran after him. Team Gai was able to break through when two other ANBU showed up and, with a couple hand signs, paralyzed them. They picked them up and put them under their shoulders as if they were pieces of wood and dropped them back into their seats. The feudal lord was grinning again.

"That's what will happen if you try to escape, Element User. Next!"

With that, another roof fell away, once again being stopped by the blue fire. Naruto was looking at Sasuke the whole time, but the raven haired teen barley moved an inch. What Naruto _didn't_ see was Sasuke's right hand twitching ever so slightly when the fire ignited. When the flame disappear this time, it missed some of the acid, and a couple of drops landed in the crowed. One of the drops landed on Sakura's hand, burning through her skin and spilling blood. She screamed, knocking Sasuke out of his slight daze. She was holding her hand out as Ino wrapped her forehead protector around the mark, trying to stop the bleeding. Shikamaru stuck his head out from under his seat to glare at the feudal lord, but was surprised to see him smiling an evil smile.

He took the button from the ANBU member and pressed it again as a roof came tumbling down. Once more, the blue flame stopped the acid, but only barely. When the fire was gone, more drops than before rained on the teenagers, landing this time on Shino, Akamaru, and Hinata. Shino sent his bugs to get rid of the acid and didn't move. Akamaru began to bark loudly and painfully as Kiba tried to stop the bleeding on his ear and Hinata just screamed and screamed. Naruto tried to get her to hold up her arm to let him see but she bent over and cradled her arm, letting the world slip away from her knowledge. The feudal lord smirked and held up the button again, ready to push it.

"That's enough!"

All heads turned as Sasuke stood up, shouting over the shrieks of terror. Naruto blinked in amazement; Sasuke had been totally tuned out a moment ago, why the change?

"If the Element User of Fire is the only thing that will get you to stop this madness, so be it," he said, taking a deep break before he spoke again. "I am the Element User."

Many more shrieks followed, mostly from the left side of the building. His friends around him could only stare. Sakura stopped putting pressure on her hand and stared wide-eyed at the person she thought she knew. Shikamaru climbed out from under his chair to stare at Sasuke as well. Team Gai finally got over their paralysis and once again held back Tenten when she tried to lunge at Sasuke. The feudal lord seemed shocked.

"You have no mark on your forehead and no one can perform a genjutsu in here," he said, trying to prove Sasuke wrong for some reason. "If you are truly the Element User of the Fire Country, where is your mark?"

Sasuke reached inside his shirt and pulled out the medallion. A little switch in Naruto's brain clicked. When Kohaku gave that thing to him, he had said that it hid the 'mark'. Things were starting to make sense now.

"This medallion has hid my mark for some time now," Sasuke said sternly, not a hint of nervousness in his voice.

He pulled off the medallion as a blue mark began to glow in the center of his forehead quite brightly. When Naruto's eyes got use to staring at the strange light, he could make out the kanji for 'fire', the same kanji that was on the Hokage's hat and Sasuke's concealment medallion. The feudal lord was still surprised.

"I never would have imagined that you of all people would be the Element User, Uchiha Sasuke. No wonder you know so much about them," he said almost to himself. "If we had known before, we wouldn't have put you in charge of all your little Element friends' information. Why did you give up secrecy?"

"You would kill all these people just to find me," Sasuke said. "Including the people that I can call friends." Under his breathe so that only Naruto and Sakura could hear, he added, "Plus staying secret any longer would ruin our plan."

Sakura would have asked him what plan if he hadn't suddenly appeared on the stage with two ANBU holding his arms. Sasuke dropped the medallion into the feudal lord's outstretched hand and let the ANBU members cuff him, the chains rattling whenever he moved the slightest bit. Beside Sasuke, the feudal lord looked like an older version of Udon, height and all. His weird hat didn't make up for much; it only reached up to Sasuke's chin. He turned over the medallion, inspecting it closely before giving it to one of the ANBU behind him.

"So in return for your capture, you want me to let all of these people go?" he asked, motioning mainly to where Sasuke was sitting.

Sasuke nodded, and Naruto was able to see the 'plan glint' in his eye again. He told Hinata to hold onto something or to close her eyes as things were about to get ugly.

"Fine, I won't stop anyone from leaving anymore," the feudal lord compromised, handing the button over to another ANBU member. "Anything else you want?"

"Yeah, actually," Sasuke smirked, as Naruto held on tighter to his chair. "Step a bit farther away."

The feudal lord tilted his head to the side in confusion and noticed only too late that the two ANBU that were holding Sasuke were on the ground dead. Sasuke broke the cuffs with the same sort of blue flame around his hands as the flame that had stopped the acid. The tiny man barked an order to grab him but Sasuke's whole body burst into flames. When the fire died down, he was wearing a deep-blue cloak, the fire still around his hands. The rest of the ANBU pounced, all flying back as Sasuke touched them with the fire. The feudal lord stood panic-stricken as Sasuke raced forward, plunging his fiery fist into his stomach. The little man coughed blood before dropped to the ground, dead, as Sasuke jumped out of the way of the ANBU.

Soon he was surrounded by the ten remaining ANBU as they closed in. Sasuke smirked and closed his eyes, turning off the fire of his right hand and holding it up. Before anyone could do anything, a green blur shot up from the turtle-neck part of Sasuke's shirt, enlarging at a rapid rate. Sasuke grabbed Draco's fiery tail as the huge dragon flapped it's wings, nearly touching the roof.

When Draco had grown, the stubs of his horns had grown into real horns, much like that of an antelope. Wings had sprouted from his back and his fangs had also grown longer. Draco opened his huge mouth as an explosion of blue flame shot from his mouth, disintegrating the rest of the roofs as well as the acid.

Everyone was out of their seats by now, some heading for the doors, some just running around in circles. Naruto and company were all standing up out of their seats, watching the events unfold. Team Gai had disappeared however, most likely to stop Tenten from hunting down Gai and killing him. The only person that wasn't standing was Hinata, crouched on the floor and holding her arm, her chair somewhere behind her. Naruto had given up trying to get a look at it, and Sakura was much too busy to help right now. As Sasuke rose up into the night sky, other figures in the distance were coming closer. As the got nearer, Naruto could see the other Element Users, flying on some sort of transportation or other.

"Sasuke!" Kaiya called, riding on a larger version of her bird, Tori.

"Kaiya, you get to the 'Temple' with Sasuke," Kohaku ordered, Shive on his shoulder as he sat on a colossal snowflake, a dark haired boy beside him. "We'll go on ahead and tell Lady Aboshi you're on your way. Get there as soon as you guys can."

Sasuke jumped onto Draco's back and turned to face the destruction he had created. Spotting Naruto and Sakura, he smiled.

"Hey Naruto, Sakura," he called. "As a birthday present, make sure you two stay alive until I come back for you, alright?"

With a quick word to Draco, Sasuke and Kaiya sped off in the other direction, following the enormous snowflake and a thunder cloud that Kora sat on with a boy that must be Imara beside her. That left the other boy with Kohaku to be Sota.

"What is he…?" Sakura started, stopping as a piece of paper fell on her head.

She took it off and handed it to Naruto, walking over to Hinata. It was a piece of a pull-off calendar, for that exact day. It was July twenty-third and in the notes, written in Sasuke's handwriting, were the words '_B-day'_. Naruto smiled and looked up at where Sasuke had been last, savouring the image.

"_Of coarse we will_," Naruto silently promised. "_Just come back soon_."

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No, the temple is not the Uchiha Temple. Don't think it is. It's a different temple, that you'll find out about soon enough.


	22. Intruder

Yay! I finally got it up! It took me forever to come up with a name even though I knew I could alway change it later. (shrugs) Oh well.

Wow. I have... (counts on fingers) A whole lot of people that will soon become main characters. Like, Kohaku, Kaiya, Imara, Sota, Kora... and then I have six more that will be just as important! Silly me... Hehe

Yay again! I'm advancing the plot a bit more than I intended! Hehe. That means it will be a longer story... oh well.

On with the show!

**Note:** I do **NOT** own Naruto, or any of it's characters. All I own is my plot, the Element Users and the many character's I've made up for this story/fanfiction.

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Chapter 22:

Intruder

"Well, I never would have guessed that things would end up like this," Kakashi said after Naruto explained when Kakashi had finally arrived to check them out of what was left of the building. "So now Sasuke's gone again."

Sakura nodded. "But he said he'd come back for us; what do you think that means?"

"Well, a group of ANBU searched Sasuke's apartment after the meeting," Kakashi said. "The only thing was, there was nothing to search through. Everything had been cleared out and every trace that someone had lived there vanished.

"So that's what Sasuke meant by he had to 'prepare for something'," Sakura said under her breath. "But then what did 'staying secret any longer would ruin they're plan' mean?"

"Kakashi-sensei, who's side are you on?" Naruto asked suddenly. "Like, where do your loyalties lie? When Sasuke comes back, will you keep it a secret and let us leave or will you report this to Granny Tsunade?"

Kakashi was silent for a moment. Sakura and Naruto held their breath, willing for Kakashi to choose their side. The longer he took to answer, the less faith they had in their teacher. What was probably no more than a couple of seconds seemed like an eternity. Finally, Kakashi spoke.

"To be honest with you Naruto, I'll probably report this to Hokage-sama," Kakashi said half heartedly. "If I wasn't a ninja, I'd keep quiet, but I am a ninja; a ninja loyal to his Hokage. I'm sorry Naruto."

Kakashi turned and took off his eye-patch, keeping his left eye closed. He took out his forehead protector from an empty weapons pouch and wrapped it around his eye, resuming his normal appearance. Naruto also re-placed his forehead protector to its rightful place and sighed. If Kakashi was going to report Sasuke's promise to the Hokage, what chance did he and Sakura have of seeing Sasuke again? As his teacher walked away, Naruto knew he wouldn't be able to trust him again.

"By the way," Kakashi said, turning around about ten feet away. "You guys wouldn't happen to know where Gai is, would you?"

Sakura giggled and Naruto forgave him for the moment with a smile.

"Tenten said she was going to kill him," Sakura said, trying to hide her amusement. "You can count that as a win if you want; a win for not getting killed by one of your students."

Kakashi got a worried look on his face and jumped away, leaving Naruto and Sakura alone. With a jolt, Naruto remembered Hinata. He turned around to see the Hyuuga crouched on the ground, blowing on her arm. Naruto went over to her and finally saw what happened. There was a huge hole through her forearm, literally; Naruto could see right through it.

"_That must be why Sasuke stopped him_," Naruto thought painfully. "_He knew the drops were getting bigger and if they landed on someone's head, they'd die._"

Sakura came over just then and took over, using healing techniques to replace her old bones, tendons, muscles, and the like. All the while Naruto was in deep thought.

"_Where are you Sasuke? What are you doing right now and when will you return?_"

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They had been flying in silence every since getting away from the auditorium in Konoha. Sasuke and Kaiya had caught up to the others and were flying somewhere over the Earth Country. Sasuke had managed not to think about what had just happened too much, but he knew he would have to explain himself to Kohaku, as well as Lady Aboshi. When the sun started shining through the clouds behind them, things started to liven up.

"Hey Sasuke," Kaiya said cautiously, not bothering to turn to look at him. "Those people you shouted to… Naruto and Sakura… They were your friends, right?"

Kaiya hadn't changed much since the last time Sasuke had seen her. Her light-pink hair blew magnificently in the wind, her forehead glowing with the kanji for 'wind' with the same shade of pink as Sakura's hair. Tori's rainbow feathers reflected on her pink cloak, her dazzling green eyes staring off to the side a bit.

Kohaku and the others turned to look at Sasuke, filled with curiosity and uncertainty. Sasuke sighed and looked at the light-pink haired girl flying beside him.

"Yeah," he said slowly. "They were my team mates for ninja training. It was sort of impossible for them to not become my friends."

"So Kohaku wasn't lying when he said you became a ninja this life," Imara said, staring at Sasuke's forehead protector's plate on his shirt. "Geez, I and here I was thinking he had gone insane again."

Imara was a tan skinned boy with light brown hair. He also wore a cloak like Sasuke's, Kaiya's and Kohaku's, except it was the same colour as his hair; a light brown. In the center of his forehead glowed a dark brown kanji for 'earth'. On his shoulder, a fat little mole slept with the kanji for 'earth' on its short, stubby tail. Something like a furry drill replaced its snout, and its claws dug into Imara's shoulder even though it was sound asleep.

"Since when have I gone insane?" Kohaku protested.

"That year when you were the youngest of the group," Sota said, pushing him jokingly. "I've never seen someone throw such a tantrum in all my lives."

Sota was the tall boy of the group; just a bit taller than Sasuke himself. He was supposedly Kohaku's brother, but the two looked nothing alike. While Kohaku's hair was a whiteish-silverish colour, Sota's was pitch black. He was wearing the same type of cloak as everyone else, except his was light blue, the same colour as the glowing kanji of 'water' on his forehead. Strapped to his back was a fish bowl with seals overtop so that the water wouldn't fall out. Inside was a tiny fish with a shark fin, the kanji of 'water' on its fin.

Kohaku turned a slight pink and pushed his half-brother back, almost knocking him off the snowflake. Sota regained his balance and shot a beam of water from the palm of his hand, soaking the Hyuuga boy, his white cloak and the now awake and annoyed Shive.

Kaiya giggled quietly before whispering something to Tori, who nodded approvingly. She raised her hand and pointed just between the two brothers. A wind sliced through them and knocked Sota off. No sooner had he fallen than a white bird a bit smaller than Tori caught him and flipped him onto its back. Sota grumbled something imply while Kohaku cursed under his breath.

"Why are you always the peace-maker among us?" Sota complained, trying to get a good grip on the white bird's glossy feathers. "That's the first time we've been able to have a little fight since forever!"

"We're over seventy-thousand kilometres above the ground and you two want to fight?" Kaiya said disbelievingly. "Her name is Shiraha (1), Tori's second cousin. She'll make sure you stay away from Kohaku for the rest of this flight."

Sota pouted and Shiraha chuckled, keeping her eyes closed. Shive jumped into Sota's old spot and shook her fur, trying to dry herself. The drops of water instantly turned into hail and went flying into Sota's face, most likely on purpose.

"We never did anything that life, did we?" Kora asked, shifting her hair so it wasn't in her face. "The leader died, right?"

Kora was the smallest of the group; most likely the youngest too. Her blonde hair reminded Sasuke of Ino's hair, except for the fact it was silkier. She too had a glowing mark on her forehead, but the light wasn't as strong. Her dark blue eyes were fixed on the pale-yellow rabbit in her lap, gently petting the small creature. It bore the kanji of 'lightening' on its back and its ears were shaped into lightening bolts. Both she and the animal looked up when Sasuke spoke.

"Yeah, and it's my fault," he said dryly. "I was the leader that time, forth reincarnation I think. I was in Hyuuga that time, branch family. When they tried to put that stupid cursed seal on me, they couldn't due to already having a seal there. You guys know what happened after that."

"Then I guess I got lucky," Kohaku sighed. "But it does go to show you how your birth mother has all the power over you. We're born with the mark already. She has the choice to either kill us or help keep it a secret."

"But my mom died at child birth this time," Kora pointed out. "Just like she did the very first time I was born."

"Come to think of it, we're all in the same positions as we were in life number one," Imara thought out loud. "Same names, same clans, same birthdates…"

"He's right," Kaiya said, shocked. "Lady Aboshi picked for us this time right? She must have something really big planned."

"Well, you can ask her soon enough," Kohaku told her. "We passed the Earth Country boarder long ago. Everyone fly down; we've reached the Temple."

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"So tell me again why we have to help?" Naruto asked Sakura as they jumped over the roofs of Konoha.

"Because Gai hasn't been seen since Tenten ran into his house and practically kidnapped him," Sakura explained for the umpteenth time. "It's already noon and there's _still_ no sign of him, or his team for that matter."

"You mean she was serious?" Naruto asked in disbelief. "And here I was thinking she was joking."

"Did she look like she was joking?"

"No."

"There you go."

"I wanted to sleep today; I didn't get a wink of sleep last night."

"What's more important to the village: Your sleep or one of our best jounin?"

"My sleep."

Sakura rolled her eyes as the pair headed to training area twenty-three. No sooner had they gotten there than they heard strange noises, as if someone was being held captive.

"Please no! My greatest and eternal rival Kakashi, won't you do something else than stand there and look cool?"

In an instant, they knew that voice belonged Gai, and by the sounds of it, Kakashi was there as well. Naruto snuck forward and peeked through the bushes, making sure to hide his presence as a stunning scene was set before him. Gai was completely covered in ropes from his toes to his neck and was being hanged upside-down on a tree branch not too far away. Neji and Lee were tied to the tree's trunk wide eyed as if they couldn't believe what was going on. Kakashi was some ways off leaning against a different tree trunk and watching with a silly grin on his face (from what you could actually _see_ of his face that is). With a kunai in her hand, Tenten took a step closer to Gai from where she was, her eyes wide and bloodshot, holding the kunai a bit above her head. Gai wailed again as she took another step, seeming to enjoy her sensei's pain.

"How's that for serious?" Sakura asked in a hushed voice as she joined Naruto. "What do we do now?"

"I was kind of hoping to watch and see what happens," Naruto admitted. "I'm still sure she won't actually kill him."

"I'll bet you ten bucks (2) she will," Sakura bribed, taking after Tsunade.

"You're on."

"Wait a minute; you just tricked me into watching and doing nothing didn't you!"

"All I said was 'you're on.' You did the rest."

Sakura cursed under her breath and turned back to Gai, his face turning red as the blood went to his head. Tenten took another step toward him, the point of the kunai glinting in the sunlight. Lee struggled with the ropes with one final shrug but stopped midway when a shuriken flew past his ear. Neji had to duck to avoid getting it in his forehead, which still didn't have any bandages covering it. Suddenly, Tenten lurched forward and drove the kunai into Gai's chest, spraying blood everywhere and forcing Sakura to scream.

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Once they had all flown down, Draco and Tori transformed back into their smaller forms, perching themselves on their masters' shoulders. Kohaku had his snowflake (now in miniature version) in his pocket now and Kora had sent her cloud back into the sky. Shiraha had left and that left the six teenagers and their animals in front of a huge temple shrouded in mist. Kohaku walked to the front of where the door was suppose to be and scratched his head.

"You don't know how to open it, do you?" Imara sighed. He sighed even harder when Kohaku turned around and was red in the face.

"Here, let me do it," Sasuke said, walking up to Kohaku. "It should still recognize me as partly a leader from last time."

Kohaku stepped back, giving Sasuke room. Sasuke bit his thumb and pressed his hand on the middle of the door, letting the blood soak into the rain-drenched limestone. Light in all sorts of patterns began etching themselves on the door, soon covering the whole of the temple. Sasuke stepped into and past the light, closely followed by the others. When the light faded, they were inside a dark hallway, lit only by the torch of an azure flame in Sasuke hand. Kohaku took the torch from him and lead the group down the corridor, taking a sudden right or left at some spots. Sasuke brought up the rear with another torch just behind Kaiya, whose hair shone purple in the blue light.

A couple more turns to the right and left and they came to a marble wall with a map of the Great Shinobi Lands etched into it. Kohaku gave his torch to Sota and pressed his hands into the stone. Immediately, the stone began glow with lights of the rainbow. Kohaku stepped inside, followed by Sota, Imara, and Kora. Kaiya turned to Sasuke and, blushing, ran through the light. Sasuke put out his torch before he too stepped into the light.

When he came out on the other end, he was in a completely different place. The grass under his feet was as lush as it was in Konoha during summer; a couple multicoloured flowers poked their heads out here and there. A waterfall fell from between a split in a cliff, falling into something a bit smaller than a lake that was dyed a deep blue. Three caves on each side of the cliff (adding up to six in all) seemed to lead deeper into the cliff, their black holes seeming forbidding. The rest of the group was standing around in the middle of the clearing, muttering amongst themselves. As Sasuke approached, Kaiya turned to his with panic and fear in her eyes.

"Lady Aboshi's not here yet," she whispered, failing in her attempt not to squeak. "What should we do?"

"She probably had to deal with the other group," Sasuke reassured her, also convincing himself. "She always talks to the other group before us, remember? And with her plan, she needs to spend a reasonable amount of time explaining everything to them. She'll be here soon enough, so don't worry."

"Easy for you to say," Imara muttered. "I doubt Kaori and Zaiku will cooperate. If I'm right and we're all in the same forms we were in the first time we lived, those two will be twins and will be double the trouble they usually are."

"And those two always are trouble, siblings or not," Sota added, shuffling his feet. "This could take a while."

"Then we'll just enjoy ourselves until she gets here," Kora decided. "Hey Toki, I'll race you to our sleeping place."

The yellow rabbit hopped out of Kora's arms and stretched its legs, its lightning shaped ears quivering slightly.

"I'm going to beat you!" it cried as it sped off toward the caves.

Sota rushed over to the pool of water and took the fish bowl off this back. He removed the seals and poured the fish out, letting it swim in a greater body of water. Unexpectedly, he himself dived into the water. Just as his head disappeared under the water, gills on either side of his neck appeared, giving him the ability to breath underwater. Then he was gone.

When Sasuke looked over at Imara, he couldn't see him. In his place was a large hole in the ground, and a smaller hole beside it. Kohaku had made a little iceberg in the water and was lounging on it as if it were a floating chair with Shive on his stomach. That just left Sasuke and Kaiya.

"Do you really think…?" Kaiya started.

"Why do you always worry?" Sasuke asked jokingly. "You don't want your name to be 'worry-wart' do you? Try to lighten up would you?"

Kaiya chuckled slightly before jumping up high into the air and disappearing all together, along with Tori. Sasuke was then left to himself, watching his friends he had known for centuries and wondered for the first time if could really consider them his friends just because they were all Element Users.

"_Naruto and Sakura_," Sasuke thought regretfully. "_I can truly call you guys my friends. Let's just hope we'll meet again soon._"

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Sakura screamed again as Tenten pulled the kunai out of Gai's chest, more blood dripping onto the ground. Naruto sprang up and forced Tenten to the ground, throwing her weapon packs off the far side. He made a clone to untie Neji and Lee and another one to go hassle Kakashi. After Sakura had taken a few deep breaths, she rushed over to Gai and lowered him onto the ground, making sure to not to damage his chest anymore than it already was. After he was completely untied, Lee rushed over to his beloved sensei, weeping into his hands as tears spilled down his face.

"No! Gai-sensei!" he wailed. "Why did it have to end like this! Why, why, why!"

"He's not dead Lee," Sakura said, looking over the wound. To herself, she added, "Not yet at least."

"Let me go! Unhand me I say!" a Naruto clone shouted from over where he was. "Let go! Please!"

Neji was standing a little away from them, eyebrows raised. Kakashi was holding Naruto up by the collar of his shirt, letting him swing his feet around to no avail. The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke and Kakashi calmly walked over to Sakura.

"Why didn't you do anything?" Neji asked sternly as Kakashi passed him. "You could've stopped her from… from…"

"Why should I have?" Kakashi asked as he reached where Gai lay. "Why shouldn't I have let her kill an intruder?"

Puzzled, Sakura looked at Gai again, trying to figure out how he was an intruder. Kakashi preformed a cancellation technique and then she saw it. The person she thought was Gai wasn't actually Gai at all. It was a tall, lean man with reddish-brownish hair, and a beard of the same colour. His forehead protector was tied around his ankle, and Sakura gasped when she saw what village he came from; not Konoha, but Kumo.

"I saw through his henge and followed him," Kakashi explained. "Stupidly enough, he transformed into Gai just as Tenten burst through the door and kidnapped him with Neji and Lee on her heels. I figured I'd let her take care of him for me. I'm surprised he knew the way Gai speaks though, or how he knew I was Gai's greatest and eternal rival."

Naruto let Tenten off the ground as she walked unsteadily toward the man she had thought was guy. Dropping to her knees, she cocked her head to one side and stared thoughtfully at his forehead protector.

"How long was he transformed as Gai-sensei?" she asked Kakashi, her voice quivering as if she were in a dream.

"Just after you guys left to go to that big building to find Sasu… I meant the Element User," Kakashi corrected himself.

"That means Gai-sensei still has to die!" Tenten shouted, jumping up and pushing her fist into the air. "I got the wrong guy this time, but this time I'll get Gai-sensei for sure!"

Neji groaned and slapped his forehead as Lee's eyes grew wide with shock. Kakashi just rolled his eyes and began walking back in the direction of the village. Naruto had to pounce on Tenten again to stop her from racing off to find Gai. Sakura ran over to Kakashi, trying to read his face.

"You're just going to let her go?" she demanded, stepping in front of him to block his path. "You saw what she'll do; she'll actually kill him!"

"But right now, I have to file a report to Hokage-sama about that man," Kakashi reminded her calmly. "You deal with her for now. I'm sure Gai won't be as helpless as that other guy was."

And with that, Kakashi walked away without a second glance at the struggling teenagers as they tried (without much success) to stop Tenten from running off again. As soon as he was well away from the group he switched his direction so that instead of heading to the Hokage's office, he was heading to his own house. Once there he locked the door behind him and closed all the windows so no one could see inside. He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled a sweet bird tune. When the song was done, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai jumped out of their hiding places and took their seats on the many couches in Kakashi's living room.

"How is everything?" Kurenai asked curiously, eyeing Kakashi as he sat down in the sofa-armchair in front of them all.

"Well, if you don't count the fact that Sasuke was the Element User, Tenten has suddenly become bloodthirsty and a Kumo ninja has been found dead in a Konoha training area," Kakashi said carelessly. "Besides all that, everything's fine."

"Sasuke? The Element User?" Gai questioned. "Amazing! He is so very youthful in his extremely old age!"

"He gets reborn every hundred years Gai," Asuma explained in a bored voice. "Didn't you hear the part about Tenten?"

"Who's Tenten?" Gai asked, his eyebrow creased.

The other people in the room all slapped their foreheads simultaneously. Kurenai was the first to recover, giving Gai a picture of his team and pointing to the girl in the middle with two top buns in her hair. Gai snatched the photo from her and desperately tried to figure out why there were two people in the picture that shouldn't be. Kakashi cleared his throat and continued.

"That cloud ninja was obviously spying, but starting a war now is stupid. I don't know what the Raikage is planning, but judging on her moves so far, it can't be good. Plus, we don't have time for a war at the moment."

Asuma nodded. "The feudal lord has ordered all jounin to search and destroy the Element Users, wherever they may be. That means we'll be down quite a lot of shinobi, so that might be why."

"I thought the feudal lords were all working together," Kurenai said. "Doesn't that mean that all Kumo jounin will be sent out as well?"

"Either they're not going or the Raikage is very confident in her chuunin and genin," Kakashi sighed. "Either way, we'll have to warn our students about the procedures of war whenever we have time. If she is planning to attack, she'll find that Konoha ninja aren't as soft as they appear."

"Hokage-sama went to talk to the Raikage a little while ago, didn't she?" Asuma asked.

"Yeah, but she refused to talk about it," Kurenai told him. "No one knows what they talked about or what agreements were set."

"Well she might have to tell us," Kakashi said sternly. "If it means the difference between avoiding a war and starting one, she had better talk."

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(1) - Shiraha - In Japanese, shiraha means white bird. It's a pun! Yay a pun! 

(2) - Ten Bucks - You see... I'm not quite sure how yen works, so I used dollars instead... yeah... that's why.


	23. The Beginning of an End

I know people hate it when writers apoligize for taking so long to update and then making an exuse, so I won't do that. I really am sorry though. I was going for a really long chapter but I found a better place to end. I just said an excuse didn't I? Oh well. I've got some things for you to think about first though.

How do you practce a suicide technique, or learn one for that matter? Seriously. Some people say you just have to know but then how do you know you got it right? Using clones doesn't work since they don't have souls and you still have to give that death god thing your soul. Sure, maybe the Sharingan can copy it, but how did the Third Hokage learn? Or the Fourth? I'm so very confused.

Speaking of the Fourth, here's an idea: Maybe Naruto _is_ the Fourth. I mean, most of us think the Fourth was his father, but if you'll remeber correctly, that death god thing seals whatever you seal inside _you_. And Naruto's the one with the mark on him. Plus, when ever Jiraiya is going to do something bad to Naruto, he thinks in his head, _"Sorry Fourth."_ Like flicking Naruto off the cliff. Or teaching him the Rasengan. Very curious.

Sasuke's a year older than everyone in the manga right? (not in this story though. I sort of started before I found out and things got a bit messed up from there) But maybe there's a reason to him being a year older. The Kyuubi said that Sasuke's blood is more cursed than that Madara person, even without the cursed seal. Also, Sasuke is sometimes seen as the 'lone wolf' of the rookie nine plus team Gai. Coincidence? I like to think not. As the quote said on the website I found out this info on (which actually gets updated by Kishimoto himself but I don't feel like telling you because I am an evil person)_'Uchiha had many secrets, some more deadly than others. The most deadly of them is the secret that Sasuke carries with him, yet tells no one of. A secret that if Naruto knew, could change his outlook on Sasuke forever...' _I'm... EVIL!

Yeah... just some things for you to think about for a while and get mad at me about. I would just like to point out that only 1 person remembers the Great Samurai Lands I mentioned before. Now I'm angry. Is there only 1 person in this whole wide world that remembers it? Well, it will be important next chapter. It was suppose to be this chapter but... you know.

Oh! And I've finally come up with the pairings for the story! Okay, it's Shikamaru and Ino, Naruto and Hinata, Lee and Sakura, Imara and Kora, and Sasuke and Kaiya. If you don't like, stop reading. With those pairings though, both people like each other, no matter how small it is.Yeah... does OC mean 'own character'? But then what does OOC mean? Yeah I know, I'm stupid. I finally completly figured out what yoai and yuri mean though, so give me some credit!

I've kept you waiting long enough! On with the show!

**Note:** I do **NOT** own Naruto or any of it's characters. All I own is my plot, the Element Users and the many characters I have made up for this fanfiction. Because that's all it really is, a fan fiction.

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Chapter 23:

**The Beginning of an End**

"Hey Sasuke," Kaiya asked as she rushed over to where he lay. "Do you really think Lady Aboshi will be here soon?"

Sasuke raised his head to watch her take a seat beside him. He was lying in a field of flowers, trying to lose himself in the blossom's sweet aroma. He had so many things to think about right now he didn't really know how to coop with them all. For one thing, there was the problem that he had no clue what was going on in Konoha. For another thing, Kora had overheard the Raikage planning an attack on the Hidden Village of Leaves just before she left. And of course, there was the problem that Lady Aboshi _still _hadn't shown up.

"Hello… earth to Sasuke," Kaiya joked, waving her hand in front of his face. "Come in Sasuke… do you copy?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke muttered, sitting up. "To tell you the truth, I have no idea why she's taking so long. I probably could've gone to Konoha and back ten times by now though."

"Oh Sasuke, stop worrying," Kaiya teased. "And you called me the worry-wart. Besides, you don't even know if you'll be allowed to have them come with us."

"Sasuke, Kaiya!" Kohaku shouted, running towards them. "She's here, and she wants to start the meeting right away! You guys better come quick!"

Wearily, Sasuke got to his feet and walked after a running Kaiya. Kohaku had already gone and once again he was left to himself. Looking up to the sky, he could see the rainbow that Lady Aboshi always left behind as she flew though the air. Judging on how clear and dark the colours were, he would say that she was in a rather good mood. Kaiya's words still rang in his ears, and he willed himself not to get his hopes up. The last time he did that, his whole clan was destroyed. As he approached, he saw everyone gathered around in a circle. Sota was completely and utterly soaked and Imara was completely and utterly covered in dirt. When he got to the edge of the circle, the meeting officially began.

Lady Aboshi was a tall woman with long flowing hair in the many colours of the rainbow. Her sparkling eyes were a deep violet and her long robe was a vibrant teal. In her hand she held a staff almost as tall as she was with many, many colours in the form of gases swirling within a rather large sphere at the top. Behind her near the edge of the miniature lake was a beautiful white and gold carriage pulled by four pure white winged horses that were merrily drinking the water.

"Sound off," she ordered cheerfully, her light voice ringing in the clearing.

"Hyuuga Kohaku of Winter Weather."

"Mishanata Sota of the Foaming Sea."

"Uchiha Sasuke of the Sapphire Flame."

"Tomenaki Kaiya of the Whispering Wind."

"Yasashii Kora of the Storm Brought Lightning."

"And Tsumiga Imara of the Earth beneath Ground."

"Hey, how come we never get to sound off?" Shive complained. "We should be recognized too you know."

"If you are all quick, you may sound off if you wish," Lady Aboshi compromised. "I have much to tell and very little time."

"Yay!" Shive shouted. "Okay, Shive the Polar-bear, partner of Kohaku-sama."

"Joshi the Shark-Fish, partner of Sota-sama," a watery voice said from the pool.

"Pass," Draco yawned.

"I pass as well," Tori agreed.

"Toki the Lightning Rabbit, partner of Kora-sama," the little rabbit in Kora's arms said shyly.

"And Kiri (1) the Drilling Mole, partner of Imara-sama," the little rodent on Imara's shoulder said sleepily.

"Are you satisfied now Shive?" Lady Aboshi asked, her eyes gently fixed on the white bear.

"Quite," Shive consented.

"Now then, as I'm sure you've all already guess, I have planned something big for this lifetime," she started, watching them all. "We are going to put an end to our conflicted differences with the 'normal ones'."

A surprised murmur swept though the group. By 'normal ones', she was referring to those who didn't have element powers and weren't reborn every hundred years with their memory still in tact. People like Naruto and Sakura, Kakashi and Tsunade.

"How're we going to do that?" Sota asked. "Give them all powers, or take ours away?"

"No, no, you've misunderstood," the rainbow woman chuckled. "We're going to cut ourselves off from them and stop this nonsense with every one hundred years being reborn. Simply, we'll create a land to call our own."

Sasuke's heart leapt up into his throat. Cutting themselves off from the normal ones would mean he would never see Naruto and Sakura ever again. Draco brushed against Sasuke's cheek in understanding while Kohaku quietly whispered something in Lady Aboshi's ear. She nodded in appreciation and turned back to Sasuke.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I understand you have been through quite a lot in this life," she said. "You were born into the ninja-dominated clan of Uchiha and were forced to pursue the way of a ninja. Your clan was then destroyed and you had to take revenge on Uchiha Itachi but in order to do that, you took apprenticeship with a certain Orochimaru. After going back to where you were supposed to be, our secret meetings began and took every bit of free time out of everything you did. Just a while ago, you left behind two people you called true friends in a soon to be war zone out of the sake of our mission. Is all this information correct?"

Awestruck, Sasuke nodded feebly and Kaiya gasped softly. Lady Aboshi only smiled.

"Kohaku has suggested that we take your two friends and two of their friends along with us so that all you have done up until now doesn't seem like it went to nothing."

Sasuke didn't know what to say. Before he had even asked, she had approved. He looked over at Kohaku gratefully and the white haired boy returned his gaze with equal gratitude.

"You took on many of the leader's jobs this time round only because I couldn't do them myself," he muttered. "This is my way of saying thanks."

"Yeah, it will be cool to have at least a few normal ones with us," Sota agreed, and that confirmed it.

"But what about the war?" Kora broke in, flailing her arms about. "Raikage-sama was planning an attack on Konoha and…"

"I'm getting to that," Lady Aboshi said gently. "It has always been an Element User's job to keep peace and prevent or stop any wars. The Raikage is tricky indeed this life. She has waited patiently until Sasuke was out of Konoha before she launched her attack. But we _will_ uphold our duties. Sasuke, Kora."

The two Element Users nodded and in a flash, were gone.

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"Let me out! Let me out I say!" Tenten raged as she banged on the bars of her cage.

"Not a chance," Lee told her. "You are trying to kill Gai-sensei and that is something that I cannot allow."

Naruto was won guard behind the door of Tenten's prison in case she ended up breaking out of her cell and getting past Lee. He wasn't really paying attention to their conversation but thinking of where Sasuke might be. It had already been a couple of days since the last time he saw him, but there was still a nagging feeling that he had that Sasuke was closer than he thought he was.

"Naruto…"

Naruto looked up to see Hinata in front of him, pushing her fingers together and looking at the ground. Naruto smiled. There was no one better at cheering him up than Hyuuga Hinata.

"What's on your mind Hinata?" Naruto asked cheerfully, completely hiding all of his previous emotion.

"Well… it's just that…" Hinata stuttered, trying to find the right words. "You see… K-kurenai-sensei has b-been on a lot of missions l-ately and I wanted to know if… maybe… Kakashi-san had also b-been away a lot."

Naruto nodded. "He said the feudal lord only son had sent all the jounin on missions to find the Element User's hiding place."

"Sasuke…" Hinata said thoughtfully. "Have you h-heard any news?"

"No," Naruto admitted. "But I won't let that get me down! I have no clue what he's doing right now, but I know that he'll come back soon."

Just as he finished talking, the earth under his feet shook, sending Hinata tumbling into him and sending them both to the ground. All around them people were shouting and running around. Sakura came running up to where they were, slipping on the loose stones and collapsing to her knees, trying to catch her breath.

"We're being attacked!" she shouted, stumbling to her feet again. "Get Lee and Tenten out of there; I'm going to warn the others."

Naruto nodded and got Hinata to her feet. Next he undid the lock on the door and burst in to find the room completely empty. There was a hole in the bars; big enough for an average sized person to slip through. There was also a massive opening in the back of the room as if a huge explosion had blown away half of it. Hinata activated her Byakugan and scouted ahead while trying to stand on the still shaking ground.

"I see them," she announced just as another tremor knocked her down. "Th-they're being chased b-by a bunch of cloud ninja."

"Can you tell how many?" Naruto asked urgently.

"About s-six."

"That many for only those two?" he shouted.

"This place is… is going to come down," Hinata shrieked. "We need t-to get out of h-here!"

Naruto frantically scooped Hinata off the ground and ran out the hole in the wall. As soon as they were on the other side, the ground stopped shaking and the building collapsed, leaving nothing more than a pile of broken stones and dust. Naruto put Hinata down and the two of them set off in the direction Hinata had seen Lee and Tenten.

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Sakura was running on uneven ground as she made her way to the Hyuuga compound. The main gate was already in a heap of trash but she could hear nothing coming from inside. All of a sudden, the ground stopped vibrating and she could walk without stumbling. Then she could hear the screams. She rushed past the broken gate and into the compound, almost bashing into Hiashi. He was carrying Hanabi on his back while Neji was a little farther behind supporting an elder. Sakura ran up to Neji, skidding on the lose pebbles.

"Are you guys okay here?" she quickly asked him.

Neji nodded. "Just a few elders that need supporting, that's all. We'll be fine. If I were you, I'd help the hospital with all the injuries that will be coming in."

"They'll be even more than you thought," Sakura told him with a heavy heart. "Konoha is under attack by Kumo. After you're done here Hokage-sama will need you to check in for fighting strength."

Neji's eyes widened by he said nothing and walked off. Sakura knew the hospital would need her but she could fight as well; she would be on the front lines helping those who got hurt there she decided silently. She headed for the edge of Konoha's boarder with nothing else on her mind. Well, okay, maybe Lee's safety was also on her mind slightly, but other than that she was one determined medic-nin.

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Naruto and Hinata were running side by side through the forest after Lee and Tenten. They had almost caught up with the cloud ninja that were chasing their friends, but Naruto still couldn't see them. After what seemed like forever, they came to a clearing that marked where the Fire Country's boarder cut off into the Lightning Country's. Now Naruto could see the shinobi from Kumo. They had circled Tenten and Lee and were slowly moving in. Thinking fast, Hinata made a gen-jutsu for only Tenten's eyes and told Naruto quickly before they both jumped to Lee's side.

"I thank you for coming to our aid," Lee said, dipping his head but not letting his eyes off the ninja in front of him. "Now, let us fight as…"

"GAI-SENSEI!" Tenten roared as she charged at the cloud ninja closest to her. "Today is the day you shall DIE!"

Lee's furry eyebrow twitched as Tenten killed off the first ninja and move onto the next, each time claiming it to be Gai. Hinata giggled and Naruto put him arm around Lee's shoulder.

"Tenten wants to kill Gai, right?" he said. "Well, Hinata thought it'd be a lot easier if she thought the enemy was Gai. You follow?"

Lee chuckled. "That is one way of doing it I suppose. Now, let Tenten deal with things here and we shall head to the front lines of the real battle. We are not being any help here."

Naruto and Hinata nodded as the three of them headed back toward Konoha, leaving Tenten to her… fantasy. They rushed along the same path they had taken to get to that clearing, except this time they could hear the kunais from battle being clinked together as two or more ninja battled it out. By the time they got to the battle field, it seemed like the battle was already lost. Sakura was off to the side healing those who were injured but there weren't very many Konoha ninja left standing.

"Naruto, Hinata, Lee! Thank goodness you're here!" Sakura called as she ushered them closer. "I don't know how much longer we can hold out. It seems like the Raikage sent each and every shinobi she had available to us."

"Leave everything to me," Lee said confidently. Getting into the 'nice guy pose', he added, "I will defiantly change this battle around. You can count on it."

"We'll d-do our best," Hinata reassured her.

Naruto didn't bother to say anything. An enemy ninja had found Sakura's hiding place and was getting a few other ninja to head over to their location. Naruto sprang into action and made nine clones; five to help him and four to cover Sakura as she found a different place. Hinata placed herself in the middle of the battle and got into a Hyuuga fighting position as three Kumo shinobi flung themselves at her. Lee didn't care who he went after; as long as they were from Kumo, he wrestled with them until they either were dead or had run for their lives. Sakura looked around at her friends and smiled.

"_We might win this after all…_"

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"You've got to be kidding me," Naruto said breathlessly.

The battle had been going on for a good while now and just as the last cloud ninja had fled, almost a hundred more had appeared from behind the trees. Naruto was out of breath and breathing hard. Looking around, Hinata, Lee and Sakura were in the same condition as he was. One of the ninja approached them, chuckling the merry tune of victory.

"So, are you going to give up yet?" he asked them, a sneer appearing on his long face. "You are greatly outnumbered now."

"I do not care how outnumbered I am," Lee stated bravely. "I will serve my village well and I will not give up until either victory or I die trying."

"Same goes… for me," Hinata said.

"And me," Naruto joined in.

"Same with me," Sakura agreed.

The sneer on the man's face disappeared. "Very well," he said coolly. "Attack!"

Just as the ninja were about to move forward, a huge storm cloud passed over and the biggest, most widest lightning bolt Naruto had ever seen descended from the sky and stopped the Kumo shinobi from taking a step farther, also blocking Naruto's view of them. A young chuunin on Konoha's side saw this as an opportunity to attack. Before he could make any hand seals, a blue flame shot across in front of him. Baffled, the chuunin stepped back and ended up falling to the ground.

"So, did I make it in time?" a familiar voice said beside Naruto.

"Sasuke!" Sakura shouted as she got up and flung her arms around him.

"Don't celebrate yet," he said firmly, taking her arms off him. "I might be able to keep this flame up for a while, but Kora won't be able to. Head back to the village. I'll meet you guys there."

Naruto and Sakura nodded and rounded up the rest of the surviving Konoha ninja, taking them back to the village. One last glance over their shoulder and they was gone, running down the path that lead back to Konoha. Naruto glanced at Sakura, his head full of thoughts. Sakura turned to him.

"Do you think Sasuke came back for us or if he came back to stop the war?" she whispered in a worried voice.

Naruto blinked. "I never really thought about it that way. We'll have to ask him later."

Sakura nodded and they were silent the rest of the way back.

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"So, what do you plan to do now?" Tsunade asked Sasuke as they were gathered in the Hokage's office.

"I'll carry out the duties of an Element User in times of war," Sasuke replied smoothly. "The number one priority is to stop all fighting. Since it was Kumo who started the war, it's the Element User of Lightning's problem to keep things under control."

Tsunade sighed. "I really don't think this is a normal war. If she had wanted to attack so badly, she could've done so during the Chuunin Exam that Gaara first participated. I'm not entirely clear on what happened, but I know the village was in ruins."

"Tsunade-sama; does this mean you're actually okay with Sasuke being here?" Sakura asked surprised.

"If it means avoiding a huge war, of coarse I am," Tsunade replied stubbornly.

"But the jounin aren't," Naruto said quietly. "They're under orders from the feudal lord's son."

"He is after revenge on you, Sasuke, for killing his father," Lee said.

"I'll be fine," Sasuke said. "In the mean time, Hokage-sama, please prepare for a little… how shall I put this? Trip, you could say."

"No way!" Naruto shouted, making everyone jump. "How do we know you aren't going to take off after all this is over? Forget it, I'm coming!"

"Same goes for me," Sakura agreed.

"Anywhere that Sakura goes, I go as well," Lee said.

"I'm s-sure I can be… be of help s-somehow," Hinata stuttered.

"Then it's agreed," the Hokage said. "We'll leave for where ever we have to go tomorrow at sunrise."

Sasuke nodded. "Meet here. I'll take us to where we need to be."

Before anyone else could say anything, he vanished in an explosion of sapphire fire. Naruto's eye twitched.

"Do you have any idea how many questions I wanted to ask him!" he shouted, trying to pull his hair out. "Then he just _disappears_ without letting me say anything!"

"I-I'm sure he has… things to do N-Naruto," Hinata said.

"You can talk to him tomorrow," Sakura said in a dull voice, although she was a little disappointed as well. "I'm going to get some sleep while I can."

"Let me walk you home," Lee proposed, walking with her to the door. "At the same time we can check the damage that earthquake-type thing caused."

"Good idea," Sakura said absentmindedly as she and Lee departed from the others.

Tsunade sighed and walked out of the room, leaving Hinata and Naruto by themselves. Naruto stared out the window, letting himself get lost in the world of colour beyond the glass. It almost seemed as if Sasuke was avoiding talking to him. Hinata touched him on the shoulder, bringing him back to reality.

"W-what's wrong N-naruto?" she asked in a worried voice.

Naruto sighed deeply and put on a cheerful mask. "Everything's fine Hinata. Sakura had the right idea, you better get some rest."

"B-but are you sure you're… you're alright?" she asked, the worried tone still in her voice.

Naruto nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"O-okay."

Hinata hurried out the door and into the evening light. Naruto stayed for a few more minutes before he too headed out to the night, his head full of questions and his steps full of mystery.

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Sasuke had just finished giving the rest of the Element Users a report of Konoha's situation. Lady Aboshi had already given them instructions for tomorrow and the things that they would need to do. Kora still wasn't back yet, and Kohaku had decided that if she wasn't back within the next ten minutes, he would send out a search party. Imara was the most worried out of the five. His love for her was no secret to the rest of them; however many times they were reincarnated, those two were always close. Kora seemed to return his feelings somewhat, but it was never as strong.

At the current moment, Imara was trapped inside a giant ice crystal, courtesy of Kohaku, so as to stop him from becoming a one-man search party. Kohaku himself was pacing the area while Sota playfully splashed him with water every once in a while. Kaiya had disappeared into the sky again but Sasuke was in the right-middle cave of the waterfall cliff, otherwise known as his sleeping hollow.

It was dark except for Draco's tail, which bathed the cave in a dark blue glow. Well, to say a cave isn't really accurate. On the outside, it looked like a cave, but on the inside it was much more. There was a carpet with the design of fire that covered the entire floor. A futon lay at the back hidden behind a curve in the wall so anyone coming in wouldn't see it. There was a fireplace near the bed with just a few last coals burning the remainder of their usefulness. There was a light switch that would illuminate the cave walls just as much as a normal light would.

But Sasuke liked it dark. The darkness gave him time to relax, time to think. Lying on the futon, his hands above his head, holding a dark flame. Draco was on his perch just above Sasuke's head, lazily swinging his tail to further light the room. Sasuke paid no attention to the dragon, but instead was staring intently into the depths of a blue flame that didn't seem to give off any type of light. What he was doing, exactly, was activating what the Lady Aboshi called a 'Soul Ability'.

The ability was attached to an Element User soul, so it wasn't activated until their powers were activated fully. The others had Soul Abilities too. For example, Sota's was to grow gills as well as webbed fingers and toes the moment his body became aware he was about to go under water. Imara put a grain of dirt on his tongue and his fingers would instantly become drills much like Kiri's snout. Kaiya, Kohaku and Kora still kept their Soul Abilities secret, if they had one at all.

Sasuke's Soul Ability was to stare into a fire and see something that may very well be happening half way across the world. Right now, he was looking into the Raikage's office, where Kora was trying to talk some sense into the old women.

"Raikage-sama, why have you launched an attack on Konoha? What have they ever done to you?" Kora was saying, flailing her arms in the air as she spoke, which seemed to be a habit of hers.

"This isn't about Konoha," the old lady said slyly, her face twisting into a wicked smile. "No my dear child, this is far beyond Konoha."

"But then… why?"

"Power." The Raikage's voice was suddenly stern and passionate at the same time. "I may be old and withered up, but I'm still the strongest ninja in the Hidden Village of Cloud. But I want more; more power, more land, more _control_…"

"There are five Great Shinobi Countries for a reason," Kora began, her voice trembling a bit. "I was there when they were established. It's so that there's a _balance_ in power. No one person is ever to rule the entire Shinobi lands. Ever. That is the way it has always been and always will be."

"Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions," Raikage said smugly. "I understand I must meet with the Hokage of Konoha tomorrow morning. Why don't you go prepare for that?"

Stunned, Kora bowed and disappeared with a crack of lightning. Sasuke put down the lightless flame as he heard the same crack of lightning in the clearing outside. The Raikage's ambition seemed awfully familiar to Sasuke. Draco snapped awake as a gust of blew out his tail flame.

"Kaiya-san!" he shouted. "I thought I told you not to send tornados in here when there's no light!"

"Sorry Draco," Kaiya mock apologized. "Sasuke, Kora's back. She seems really shaken up."

"I would imagine," Sasuke grumbled. "Don't stress too much on the details of her report."

"You were watching her, weren't you," the other girl guessed. "No surprise there I guess. Since you seem to want to be mister know-it-all, tell me what scared her so much."

"The Raikage told her a bit about her real plan, questioned Kora on how things should be, and guessed what was in store for tomorrow," Sasuke explained in a bored tone. "Judging on all situations tomorrow isn't going to be one of my best days. Could you leave me alone to get some rest now?"

Kaiya's face screwed up in annoyance as she jumped out the cave's entrance, muttering something about how Sasuke knew too much for his own good. Sasuke ignited Draco's tail once more before settling down for the night. Of course he had to force himself into a state of sleep, but it was sleep none the less. Even though he was asleep, his mind was still reeling at what would happen the following morning.

* * *

(1) - Kiri - Just a little FYI: Kiri means drill in Japanese. It has many meanings though. One of them happens to be drill. 


	24. The Fallen Shinobi

**Author Notes:**

Sorry. The ruler line thingy isn't working but I'm not going to complain since I'm sure well over a thousand people have already done that.

Okay, I went on vacation for the last 2 weeks of summer. Got a problem with it? I'll have you know it's that exact reason I (following information classifed until chapter is read) hehe Wait and see... (evil grin)

I was GOING to introduce the other 6 characters, but I found yet ANOTHER great place to stop. Live with it for now.

As I'm sure (almost) all of you are aware, school has started again, and I have to deal with my brand new Secondary School now, so chapters will be slower. Just a quick little warning for you all.

What else to say... Can't really think of anything. Oh! I think this chapter is a bit shorter than my other ones, I think... Well when I read it, it seemed shorter, but that may be because I've been reading really long fan-fictions lately though, so... yeah. Also, there's lots of things that have numbers that then match definitions at the bottom of the chapter, just because I don't like using something that no one or someone doesn't understand. Enjoy!

Note: I do NOT own Naruto, or any of the characters. All I own is my plot, the Element Users and the many, many characters I have come up with for this fan-fiction. Would you believe me even if I did say I owned Naruto? No. End of story.

**Chapter 24**

The Fallen Shinobi

Naruto was waiting in Tsunade's office with Hinata, Sakura and Lee. Tsunade had gone back to sleep and was drooling on a very important paper while snoring louder than either of the teens had heard anyone snore. Sunrise had come and gone; it was almost midday. Naruto and Sakura were used to waiting for Kakashi, but Sasuke? No, something had definitely happened. Almost the same thoughts were coursing though Sakura's head. Sasuke had always been very punctual, so there was really no reason for him to not be here by now. Lee had finally gotten bored enough that he started to fight an invisible enemy and Hinata was dosing off on Naruto's shoulder. Sakura was fiddling around with her fingers but she really needed a way to break the silence.

"Naruto…"

Naruto snapped out of his daze and looked around wildly, waking Hinata from her half sleep. The pink hair kunoichi stifled a giggle as Tsunade also snapped awake.

"Great, you're all awake now I should think?"

Everyone's head swung to the window, in which Sasuke had just come in from. Tsunade hastily stood up and wiped the drool from her chin, and Lee quickly changed a punch into a salute. Sakura couldn't help but notice the tiny scratches here and there that littered the Uchiha's face, though most of her attention was drawn toward the little green, wingless dragon that was curled around Sasuke's neck. Its bright violet eyes were upon her, staring her down with utmost curiosity.

"You are _so_ late!" Naruto shouted, pointing at the other boy.

"And you are _so_ loud…" Draco mumbled. Sakura flinched when she found out the dragon could talk.

"But I for one would like to know what held you up so long," Lee asked, still in his salute.

Sasuke sighed. "It's not of any concern to you at the moment."

In truth, he wasn't even aware of what time it was. He had only slept for a short amount of time before Kaiya had woken him up to help hold down Kora. She was still shaking but had started to attack Imara of all people. The other four Element Users had tried to bind her or at least hid Imara from her view but she had become very persistent, even at the time of night that it was. When Sasuke saw the look in her eyes he knew immediately that some sort of jutsu had been placed on her. After calming her down somewhat by use of the Mangekyou Sharingan, he got away with only one serious injury: an arm struck by lightning. After convincing Kaiya he was fine, he went back to his sleeping hollow and tried to figure out what was wrong with Kora only to be attacked by her in mid thought. Sasuke couldn't move his left arm at the moment and refused to use any offensive moves since he didn't really want to her, hence the scars. Eventually she got tired and he was able to give her to Imara to deal with. By this time, Toki the Lightning Rabbit was truly frightened by her master's actions, and was staying the night with Kiri in his burrow. Even though Kora wasn't acting like herself, it was still her duty to bring the Raikage to the destined place. Kohaku had warned Sasuke countless times to be on his toes the entire time and not let his guard down even for a moment. All that combined would make anyone loose track of time, though if he was Kakashi, he wouldn't be forgiven.

"So… c-can we go now?" Hinata asked timidly, breaking the silence.

Sasuke nodded. "I can't teleport us all though, so I've arranged for a little transportation."

"You've got to be kidding me…" Tsunade muttered as she stared out the window.

Everyone else ran to the window to see what she was looking at. To their amazement, they were greeted by three rather large dragons, their wings causing a tremendous amount of wind below them. Sasuke grinned inwardly at how surprised they all were.

"So… we get to ride those?" Naruto asked, his face still glued to the window.

Sasuke's answer was smirk.

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"I'm not scared of heights; I'm not scared of heights," Sakura mumbled to herself as she rode on the back of a blue and red dragon. "I'm not scared of heights; why should I be scared of heights? Maybe because I'm _higher in the air than I've ever been in my life!_ On top of that I'm riding a dragon that _doesn't have any seat beats!_"

"Please relax Sakura," Lee cautioned from behind her. "If you keep shouting out like that, someone is going to think that you are afraid of heights."

Sakura's eye twitched. She and Lee were riding on the medium sized dragon out of the three dragon's Sasuke had brought. Apparently the dragon was adviser of the Shikisai (1) Dragon Clan and had the proud name of Murasaki (2). His underside was the same shade of blue as the sky itself while his backside was a scarlet red. Just where to two colours met, there was a thin strip of violet that was hardly visible. Unlike Draco, he was well rounded and had huge wings to go along with it. The end of his tail was shaped like a heart that was a lovely lavender colour, as were his eyes, whiskers, mane and claws. He had only spoken once to them, and that was when Sasuke was helping Sakura onto him. She had taken a serious silent note that Sasuke wasn't using his left arm and had grimaced slightly when Lee accidentally bumped into him in his haste to get on the dragon. Murasaki had told them he didn't intend to do any tricks in the air as his sister did. That had only made Hinata go pale.

"Yeah-whoo!" Naruto shouted as the dragon he and Hinata were riding on did another flip. "Come on Hinata, it isn't that bad; it's fun!"

"E-easy for y-you to say," Hinata stammered, holding onto Naruto as tightly as she could.

The dragon the two of them were riding on was the smallest of the three and was also from the Shikisai Dragon Clan, just as her brother, Murasaki. Unlike her brother, she had introduced herself cheerfully to Naruto and Hinata as they were getting on, stating that her name was Momoiro (3) and that she was pleased to be riding the winds with them. Like her rather ignorant brother, her backside was scarlet which made it almost impossible to tell the two apart from above. _Unlike_ her brother, her underside was a fluffy white colour, sort of like a cloud. Between the two colours there was a slender line of rosy pink, just like her eyes, the end of her tail, mane and talons. She didn't have whiskers since those were reserved for male dragons, but that didn't stop her from doing as many loop-da-loops as she could. Naruto loved every one, sometimes lifting his arms in the air as she spun around and always crying out. Poor Hinata was just the opposite, though she didn't complain for fear of hurting the dragon's feelings.

"Quit shouting Naruto," Tsunade snapped, though inside she was jealous that her dragon wouldn't do flips and whatnot.

The dragon that Tsunade was riding on was the largest of the three and was leader of the Shikisai Dragon Clan, his name being Hisuiiro (4). His underside was a bit of a darker shade of blue as Murasaki's, while his backside was a golden yellow. As with his son and daughter, between the two colours there was a line of moss-coloured green, as were his eyes, whiskers, mane, claws, and the end of his tail. Though he was a mute, he was Murasaki and Momoiro's father and communicated through a sort of complex body language. Like right now, he flicked his tail left, right, farther to the right and then left again, which must have meant something like, "stop scaring the little girl on your back," or, "my rider has asked your rider to stop shouting. The only way to do this is to stop your tricks. _Now_."

"Hey Sasuke," Naruto yelled as soon as he realized Momoiro wasn't going to do anymore tricks and became instantly bored. "Are we going to get there any time soon?"

Sasuke was seated atop Draco in his monster form. Being the only dragon there with horns, a long body and no back legs, he seemed very out of place. Sasuke didn't even look at Naruto, but whispered to Draco something inaudible from where Naruto sat. Draco nodded and let out a roar, followed by some sort of complex language that no one had ever heard of (5). The dragons nodded once he was done, so Sakura guessed it was the language of dragons, though it still didn't make sense.

"I'm going to have to ask you to hold on tight," Murasaki said in a hushed voice. "We need to get into a barrier that's set up, and Sasuke-sama can only keep it open for a certain amount of time. I'm going to have to go faster than we've been going, but I don't want you to fall off. Tell this to that other guy behind you as well. I'm going to fly up to Hisuiiro-sama so you can tell this to your Hokage as well."

Sakura's stomach churned at the thought of being hurtled through the air at high speeds on the back of a dragon, but managed to keep her voice from cracking as she told Lee. On the other side of them, she could see that Momoiro was doing to same with Naruto and Hinata. Murasaki flew to his father's side and let Sakura tell Tsunade what was about to happen.

"Honestly, if I knew Sasuke could do all this I wouldn't have worried so much when he was with Orochimaru," Tsunade grumbled as Murasaki fell back into his place behind his father.

"Naruto…" Hinata said hesitantly, pointing below them.

Naruto looked to where she was pointing and saw was Momoiro was talking about: the barrier. It was in the middle of a desert, no doubt on top of an oasis. Looking down from above, it looked as if an ocean of black had suddenly flopped down to form a giant drop of blackness.

At that moment, Sasuke jumped off of Draco and began falling the long way down to the dome. Draco whizzed around and followed him while the other dragons circled around. Naruto's eyes widened as Sasuke got into a sky dive and picked up speed. His body then burst into blue flames and hit the dome head on. The flame then spread itself into a circle, and as it did, a space began to open that the dragons could get through. Sakura frantically searched the ring of fire for Sasuke, but she could see no trace of him. It was as if he himself had become the flames that now circled the opening.

Draco dove through the opening and disappeared instantly. Hisuiiro and Tsunade went next, picking up more speed than Sakura liked and plunging through the opening, then disappearing just as Draco had done. Lee held Sakura tightly as the two of them also were hurtled through the gap. The two of them got off the red and blue dragon shakily and turned to watch Naruto and Hinata come in. Once everyone was off, the three dragons bowed oddly and rose yet again and out the opening. As soon as they were gone, the flames holding the opening in the barrier shot spiralling down as a single flame, letting the gap close. The flame headed for Draco and landed right beside him, igniting the grass and growing taller. A fierce wind blew the flame out, revealing Sasuke in his navy blue cloak. He smirked at everyone's bulging eyes and dropped jaws.

"Follow me," he said bluntly, walking further into the dome.

Draco returned to his normal size and perched himself on Sasuke's right shoulder as the others hurriedly followed. The barrier was indeed on top of an oasis. In the middle, a small pool of water lay untouched and surrounded by trees. When Sasuke got to this point, a crack of lightning hit the barrier from the side and the Raikage stepped through. A blonde girl got through the barrier much the same way Sasuke did and followed the Raikage until the two of them were on the other side of the pool than the shinobi from Konoha. Sasuke and Kora immediately disappeared into the trees as the older women began to talk.

"So, you decided to show up," the leader of Kumo said slyly.

Tsunade grunted in return. "Sakura," she said in a hushed but serious voice. "I want you in the trees like Sasuke and that other girl, got it?"

Sakura nodded and jumped into the closest tree, shortly followed by Lee, Naruto and Hinata. Even though they were in the middle of a desert, the trees weren't palm trees. Instead, they were the type of trees that grew around Konoha and Kumo. Naruto found himself right at home in these trees, and began searching for Sasuke's place with Hinata as soon as he was sure she was alright. Sakura and Lee hung back a bit longer to see if they could hear anything from the conversation going on below them, but with no luck followed the other two. Both parties were amazed at how many trees there really were in this small enclosed space.

They found Sasuke a bit farther along higher up than they originally were. He was resting in the crotch of a tree, his long raven hair held back in a blue hair band and slung over his right shoulder. His left arm was lifelessly sitting in his lap and his right hand was clutching the shoulder that his hair wasn't on. At first, it appeared as if he was sleeping, but Naruto and Sakura knew better. The little dragon Sakura had seen earlier was perched on a branch just a bit above Sasuke's head and was lazily swinging its tail in front of his face. Sakura was afraid the flame from its tail would burn Sasuke, but her team mate seemed perfectly fine.

"Got kicked out, did you?" Sasuke said suddenly, keeping his eyes closed. "Figures."

Naruto took that as permission to talk. "What'd you mean by 'kicked out'? She just told us to copy you and stay hidden in the trees."

"And do you know _why _she wanted you hidden?" Sasuke retorted, opening his eyes and resting them on Naruto's confused face. "Because she doesn't want you to hear information you shouldn't. Right now, she can't trust anyone, and that includes her own ninja."

"But why can she not trust us?" Lee pouted. "We have been loyal all our lives; there is no reason we would dishonour her in any way possible."

"When's the last time you've seen Gai?" Sasuke asked suddenly, his eyes darting to Lee.

The young jounin looked baffled. "Not since he went on his mission. I was supposed to go as well but my amazing Gai-sensei said I should keep a low profile about being a jounin for a while. Why do you ask?"

Sasuke's grip on his shoulder tightened as his gaze was cast downwards. "Because you may see him a lot sooner than you think."

Now it was Hinata's turn to be surprised. "B-but, Kurenai-sensei told me she… she wouldn't see any of us u-until at least another m-month."

Sasuke sighed irritably and sat up, his eyes fixing each of them with a glare. "The Raikage didn't come alone; the Fire Country's new feudal lord and the jounin from all five of the hidden villages surround us right now. As soon as the barrier dispels, they'll attack."

An awkward silence fell over the Konoha group as the information set in. Sasuke let out an exasperated breath as he closed his eyes and fell back against the trunk again, gripping his shoulder so tightly his knuckles were turning white. Sakura kept quiet, surveying Sasuke's actions but keeping a watchful eye on Draco. That was probably the reason she almost fell off the tree when the little dragon spoke.

"Sasuke-sama, I believe Kora-san may have had poisonous charges in that lightning bolt that could affect not just your arm, but your entire body if you do not seek help quickly."

"Since when do you sound so concerned Draco?" Sasuke grunted, wincing a bit.

"But then, what happened?" Sakura said with a hint of uneasiness in her tone after regaining her balance. "That other Element User that came with the Raikage; that's Kora, right?"

Sasuke nodded, still keeping his eyes closed. "She was acting really weird last night and we all eventually had to help hold her down. She's the Element User of Lightning, so whenever she's outside, she has complete control on the situation. In the process of settling her down, my arm got struck by one of her lightning bolts. I'm fine though, seriously."

Hinata's eyes grew wide. "Y-you mean your… your friend at-tacked you? How h-horrible!"

"You're not okay and you know it," Naruto said sternly, crossing his arms. "If what that… that… that dragon thing says is true, you could be in serious condition."

"The name's Draco, kid," the little reptile said, swinging his tail in Naruto's direction. "And don't you forget it."

"Even _this_ dragon has a name," Lee muttered, scratching his chin. "If I had known dragons still existed, I would not have been so excited the first time I saw one…"

"Fine, Draco, whatever," Naruto half shouted. "But it doesn't change the facts. You're smart Sasuke; I'll admit you're smarter than me, but you just don't know when to ask for help. You never have! I bet if you had just asked for help from the beginning, we wouldn't be where we are today!"

"Naruto…" Sakura whispered, trying to get the ranting blonde's attention. It didn't work.

"If you had just gotten help, you never would have gotten that stupid cursed seal, you wouldn't have had to go to Orochimaru and Itachi would have been dead a lot sooner!" he continued. "You and I wouldn't have fought so much, we would've become chuunin the first time we tried, Gaara would've been nicer sooner and… and… Sasuke, everything has happened the way it has because _you_ couldn't ask for a simple bit of help!"

Naruto finished, breathing hard and somewhat off balance. Sasuke had opened his eyes by now, but they showed no emotion besides apathy. His grip on his shoulder had loosened a bit but he still made no attempt to sit up again. After Naruto had calmed down slightly, Sasuke sighed and looked at Naruto with a fake smile.

"And what would have happened then Naruto?" he asked sadly, catching everyone off guard. "If I _had_ asked for help, I wouldn't have taken that year off from the academy to train on my own and I would have graduated with Lee's class. If that were to happen, you and I would have never met. The course of history would have changed completely."

"That is right," Lee realized, hitting his open palm with his fist. "You were in my class three years before I graduated. So were those other two people: that Chouji guy and the really lazy Shikamaru person. They were put in the lower class due to performance so I thought the same had happened to you. Obviously not though."

Said Uchiha nodded. "I guess you could say that life is sort of like dominos: there are many paths you could take but because of the smallest and sometimes simplest movement, you are sent to one piece after another. The other paths you could've taken lay uncertain and are only used for pondering at what sort of twists a different path may have lead to (6)."

Everyone's eyes were cast downwards at this. Even Draco seemed to sense the mood and kept his big mouth shut. The eerie silence was only broken when Kora landed on a branch just in front of the group. Her eyes were a paler blue than they usually were and the pupils were hardly visible. For someone who wasn't even a shinobi, she moved as quietly as one and had managed to sneak up on all five of the Konoha ninja. Toki was tucked away in the collar of Kora's cloak, much the same way Kiba does with Akamaru. She surveyed the group before her gaze shot to Sasuke, who was just staring at her without much care.

"Who are _they_," she asked him, spitting out the word 'they' as if it were the most vile word on the planet. "They look like normal ones; why are you hanging out with normal ones?"

Sakura looked closely at this Lightning girl. The odd looking rabbit was trembling, even though this was most likely her pet as Draco was Sasuke's. Her eyes alone gave away the fact she was under some sort of jutsu, but it was one Sakura had never seen before. Hinata quietly activated her Byakugan and searched her chakra system for anything out of the ordinary, but since she wasn't shinobi, it was quite difficult. Sasuke only stared at her with a dull expression, making Kora mad.

"I asked you a question you know!" she shouted, grabbing his collar and pulling him up to eye level. "Is that stupid arm of yours hurting you? Well too bad! It's your own fault and you know it!"

She threw Sasuke against the tree and stormed off, not even noticing Toki wasn't with her. On instinct, Sakura immediately moved closer to Sasuke and, against his wishes, helped him sit up again.

"That is supposed to be your friend?" Lee asked sharply, utterly confused by now. "I do not think friends hurt friends and throw them against trees."

"P-please don't blame her," the little rabbit spoke up in a quivering voice, shocking everyone except Sasuke and Draco. "S-she's been like that ever since Raikage…-sama told her about her quest for power. Please, please, p-please don't blame her!"

"The R-raikage is after p-power?" Hinata stuttered in disbelief.

Sasuke grunted. "I'm pretty sure she used some sort of technique that is preformed through one's vocal cords to hypnotise Kora, but I still can't figure it out."

"But then, what about your arm?" Naruto piped up, staring at Sasuke's shoulder in awe. "Can Sakura heal it?"

"Even if there were poisonous charges in the bolt, Kora would be the only capable of taking them out," Sasuke said quickly, standing up. "For now, I'm just going to have to deal with it."

Suddenly, overhead the barrier dispelled, showing storm clouds packed with rain and lightning. Sasuke's eyes grew wide as he set out to where he had left Tsunade, the others following closely behind. By now, the entire barrier had dispelled and thousands upon thousands of jounin were rushing inside, heading directly to the center of the oasis. When they got to their destination, the place was already overrun in jounin, all of which were looking around stupidly. Tsunade was no where in sight, but the Raikage stood on a tree branch beside Kora, both of which had the exact same facial expression.

The five shinobi hid in a hollow tree that, amazingly enough, had been put there for this exact reason, but why and how, Sasuke wouldn't say. On the outside, the tree looked like your everyday tree with an animal burrow large enough for a human to squeeze through at its base. On the inside however, it was as if you had stepped into the room of a house. There was even a computer and television set. Apparently, it was a hide-away that Kora didn't know about, but the designer had forgotten an emergency exit. Settling down inside, Lee and Hinata stood by the door to attack any jounin that even thought of coming in, while Sakura and Naruto patiently waited for Sasuke to explain better… well, at least Sakura was waiting patiently.

"I am so confused right now!" Naruto whisper-shouted. "You're going to have to explain this right now Sasuke, or so help me, I will kill you!"

"You know you aren't going to so shut up Naruto," Sakura whispered. "But he's got a point; you're going to have to explain this."

"Didn't I already do that?" Sasuke said, startling everyone by using a normal tone of voice. "What? You don't have to whisper: this place is sound proof. To put it simply, the Murphy's Law (7) has come into play. The Raikage and the Fire Country's feudal lord have teamed up. Draco…"

The little dragon's head snapped into focus. "Go inform Kohaku that worst has come to worst and tell him we have to leave early."

Draco nodded and flew out the entrance, activating his camouflage mode as he went. How he flew was truly beyond anyone. Sasuke began rummaging through a pile of scrolls that lay on a table, knocking many of them on the floor. Naruto decided not to comment for once and went over to Hinata to check how many jounin really were out there. Sakura stayed where she was and watched Sasuke, quite interested in what ever he was looking for. He only used his right hand to search through the pile, but after about a minute of searching he found what he was looking for.

It was a very old looking scroll; a pale blue colour with patches of red and green here and there. Opening it, Sasuke quickly scanned the page before pocketing the scroll and picking up another one. He then tossed this scroll at Sakura, who fumbled about with it before she had a good grip on it.

"What's this for?" she asked, reading the inside of the scroll.

"Just put it away for now," Sasuke hurriedly told her. "I'm afraid we've got company."

"Gai-sensei!" Lee shrieked, running over to meet his beloved teacher at the entrance. "I have been so worried about you Gai-sensei! Will you be coming back to Konoha any time soon?"

"Lee! What the heck do you think you're doing?" Naruto shouted, pushing Lee over and standing in a fighting position in front of Gai. "Go away now and I won't have to hurt you."

Maito Gai then did something that later he regretted dearly. He gave a very teary look at Lee before stepping outside the entrance and blew a whistle, alerting the other jounin of their location.

"Hollow tree in the third quadrant," he shouted, though Lee could hear his voice cracking up. "Four from Konoha are with him. Orders say that no survivors are to be left and…"

Hinata screamed and ran over to Gai, Jyuuken him in the back, harder than she had intended. Gai's eyes became a stoney grey colour before he fell to ground and exhaled his last breath. Lee then, in turn, screamed and ran over to his fallen sensei, rivers of tears streaming down his face. Hinata's eyes were wide as she stared down at the man, amazed at what she had just done. Sakura rushed over as well, but Naruto and Sasuke hung back.

"Gai-sensei! Gai-sensei!" Lee wailed, unaware that more than four pairs of eyes were upon him. "I always thought you would die in some courageous battle, holding back the enemy! Or at least Tenten would kill you!"

As if on a silent signal, thousands of kunai were thrown in the direction of the group. Naruto saw them first and rushed in to cover Hinata, but he knew his would be his final movement. Sakura tried to get Lee to come away from the broken body of Gai, but all her attempts were in vein.

"_This is it_," she thought wearily. "_We're all going to die right here, right now._"

The next second, the kunai hit.

**Definitions:**

(1) - Shikisai - Meaning Colours, Hues and/or Tints in Japanese

(2) - Murasaki - Meaning Purple Colour and/or Violet in Japanese

(3) - Momoiro - Meaning Pink Colour in, you guessed it, Japanese

(4) - Hisuiiro - Meaning Moss Green Colour in... meed I really say it?

(5) - Dragon Language - If you think about it, it's sort of like listening to a language that you've never heard a word from yet and whoever you're listening to is the most fluent person on earth. To me, it's a lot like Japanese since I can only pick up certain words, but even then, when used in a sentence, the whole word it changed. (which I find unfair)

(6) - Life like Dominos - I only came to this realization as I was typing out Naruto's little outburst. It's so true too. An early death not cused by an illness given at birth would just be an unexpected gap in the dominos in which the falling domino cannot reach, thus ending the path. However, since the person in question is the one who set up the dominos in the first place, he/she is the only responsible for the gap. Death by drunk-driving, violence, drugs... all these are just gaps in the domino's path that come of poor life set up.

(7) - Murphy's Law - The Murphy's Law simply means that 'Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.' I see no difference to Sod's Law, which means 'Anything that can go wrong, will.' Seriously, do you see a defference besides the wording?


	25. Tides Turn

Now, I really wish I had an exuse for the long, long, long period of time that this story wasn't updates. Unforturently, I don't have an exuse. I have a reason that it wasn't updates. Here's what happened:

1) Over the summer, but friend was bugging me to finish _Bleach_ since I got up to episode 11 then got bored, so I watched the rest of the anime, then I got so into it that I read the manga, and then started reading _Bleach_ fan fictions, and then whenever I went to go work on this story, I thought "Yuck, I'm bored. _Naruto_'s boring." If anyone, blame my friend.

2) School started, so my time that I could work on this story shortend dramatically, not that I was even working on it by that time anyway.

3) The filler arcs in both _Naruto_ and _Bleach_ were beginning to kill me, so for a time, I had a no-anime lifestyle. It SUCKED.

4) We have an anime club at my school, so every club meeting we get together and watch a new anime. I took a large interest in an anime called _D-N-Angel_, so I started watching that. Then, as what happened with _Bleach_, I liked it so much that I went out of my way to read the manga. Seriously, it only has, like, 39 chapters until you get to the point that the manga-ka hasn't written anything more. Well, that only pushed _Naruto_ farther and farther away.

5) This is when I got back into _Naruto_. I found out that the fillers would totally and utterly END in February. Yay!!!!! I jumped for joy! And this I jumped in fear when I realize how little I had done on this story. Yikes.

And now I end my reason. So, we're into the really tough plot now. I left you guys with a huge cliff hanger last time, so... yeah.

Meh, I've got nothing else to tell you. Sadly, I've started on another story. I couldn't get it out of my head and as _ArimaSkitty_ puts it: "I can't find the place where the plot bunnies breed so I can't shoot them." Ah well... On to the story!!!

**Note:** I do **NOT** own _Naruto_ or any of it's characters. Kishimoto-san does. All I own is this plot, and Element Users and the many, many characters I have come up with for this fan fiction. Because that's all it is, a piece fiction from a fan.****

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**Chapter 25:**

**Tides Turn**

Ino really hated it when Sakura went on a mission without telling her. Sure, she had her own team, but they hardly ever went out on missions together. Asuma would either _just_ take Shikamaru, or _just_ take Chouji, and he hardly ever _just_ took Ino. On a couple occasions he would take Ino and Shikamaru, or Shikamaru and Chouji, but they never really did anything as a group anymore. Right now, Asuma was with the other jounin and Chouji had been sent on another mission (lucky guy), leaving Shikamaru and Ino to be slowly killed by the horror that is commonly known as boredom.

She was sitting on top of a very large hill, watching the clouds go by. Shikamaru lay beside her, sleeping the afternoon away. Ino's eyes sometimes wandered from the clouds to the village and the landscape around it which could be seen from where she sat. Her long, blonde hair flowed freely down her back and onto the grass. Shikamaru stirred beside her, finally coming back into the waking world. Ino giggled as the chuunin examiner sat up and yawned, stretching away the sleep from his limbs.

"How long has it been?" he asked drowsily, staring blankly in front of him.

"At least a good two hours," Ino said, resting her head on his shoulder. "I have no idea what time it is though."

Shikamaru looked up into the sky. "Judging on the sun's position, it's around two o'clock. I guess we should be getting back to the village now."

They both got up and headed back to the village, staring at everything that wasn't the person beside them. They liked each other, maybe even loved each other; anyone could see that. They just didn't believe it themselves. Wasn't it only three years ago that they had hated each other? Ino couldn't accept the fact that she liked Shikamaru and Shikamaru liked her. Shikamaru couldn't accept the fact that he liked Ino and that Ino liked him. There was only one word that could describe these two lovebirds: hopeless.

Shikamaru looked around the village, surveying things at random. Most of his attention was on the demolition site. There, the building that had revealed the Element User was being torn down. Faintly, he wondered who the Element User was. There were only a selected few who actually remembered what had happened that night, Shikamaru not being one of them. There was also the case that Sasuke was missing again. He didn't really want to add two and two together, and he really didn't like his results, so that's probably why he didn't notice that the only people out and about had forehead protectors. What's more, he didn't notice what village these forehead protectors came from: the Hidden Village in the Clouds.

Ino become aware of the cloud ninja's presence at once so, assuming Shikamaru knew, changed their course for the Hokage's office. She was aware of the enemy's stares but she kept going, picking up speed with every step and dragging Shikamaru with her along the way. Eventually he got tired of being pulled around and forced her to stop, looking at her with bored eyes.

"Why the heck are we going to fast?" he complained, shrugging his shoulders, eyebrows raised.

Ino's eyes widened and she pointed to just behind Shikamaru. He turned, only to come face to face with a kunai pointed at his forehead. Ino gasped as another ninja pointed two kunai at her temples, their points just touching the skin. Thinking fast, Shikamaru threw two smoke bombs at his feet and in an instant, he and Ino were running as fast as they could towards the Hokage's office.

"What's going on around here?" Shikamaru said breathlessly, glancing behind him. "Everything was fine when we left; how could things have changed so quickly?"

"I don't know," Ino said in the same breathless voice. "I just hope everyone's in the shelter."

Once they were inside the building, they truly noticed how quiet things were. The edifice that was the Hokage's office was completely deserted save for a few dust balls. Walking around, their footsteps echoed ominously in the empty building. When they came to the door that led into the room where Tsunade usually was, they found the door slightly ajar and the room completely empty.

"Hello?" Ino called out as Shikamaru examined the state of the area.

All the windows were open and blowing the curtains that usually covered them. Papers fluttered in the breeze, scattering them in every direction. Now Shikamaru really wished someone from Kurenai's cell was here. They specialized in tracking, with the Byakugan, a dog's nose (maybe two, he wasn't absolutely certain if Kiba was fully human) and many, many insects. Asuma's team specialized in distractions and/or keeping the enemy in one place by possessing the shadow of one or all of the enemy's team, sneaking into the mind of one of the adversary, possibly the leader, and if things got ugly, they had a giant human boulder to crush them. Kakashi's squad was a quick-finish sort of team, meaning the specialized in finishing the enemy off as quickly as possible. Put together, all three groups made the perfect combination: Track the enemy, distract any followers and finish them off without giving time for them to get away.

"Shikamaru!" Ino yelled, snapping him out of mid-thought. "I found a note from Hokage-sama, though it looks like someone found it before me."

It was in a simple code, and after Shikamaru had decoded it, Ino read the note out aloud:

"_Dear reader,_

_If you are reading this, that means I have already left to prevent a war. I have brought Hyuuga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, Rock Lee and Haruno Sakura with me, in case you were wondering where those four were. In the event that you are here to inform me that the village has been taken over by ninja from another village, please do not be alarmed and send the messenger bird hidden under my desk with a note stating who you are and how bad the infiltration is. If you are here to inform me of any other reason, you're fired._

_-Tsunade"_

While Ino finished the letter off, Shikamaru checked under the desk for the messenger bird only to find a closed, empty cage full of feathers. Now he really, _really_ wished at least one person from Kurenai's cell was here; Kiba would probably be best. Then he got an idea.

"Ino, you said Sakura taught you basic medical techniques, correct?" he asked.

The blonde nodded. "I'm not as good as Sakura and probably never will be, but yeah, I know the basic stuff. What about it?"

"I know it sounds really stupid, but do you think you could try to get a heart-beat out of these feathers?" the examiner said, holding up the cage of feathers.

Now Ino was confused. "You can't get a heart-beat out of an inanimate object Shikamaru; even you should know that."

"But could you at least try?" he asked again. "Just use a technique that's specially designed for starting a heart-beat. You can do that, can't you?"

"Okay, I can try…"

While Ino took out the feathers in the cage, Shikamaru prepared the note that would be sent. He wrote it in a more complex code than what Tsunade had written in, but it was still fairly easy to decode.

"What the…!"

Shikamaru turned around to see a flutter of brown feathers swooping in and out of the open windows. Ino's eyes were wide with fear as they followed the pattern of the feathers. After a couple more swoops, the feathery mass of nothing landed on the Hokage's desk and grabbed the note Shikamaru had written. Then, as if it hadn't existed in the first place, it vanished. A split second later, the door was smashed down and a couple dozen cloud ninja entered the room, kunai in hand. The only thing was, there was no one and nothing in the room. Shikamaru and Ino had vanished.

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Sakura slowly opened her eyes, trying to disperse the blinding light that was covering what was really going on. All was silent; there wasn't a single sound save for her own rasping breaths.

"_Am I… dead?_" she thought wearily. "_I lived a good life, didn't I? I have no regrets._" "No regrets," she said out loud, pleased to hear her own voice at the least.

"S-sakura! You're a-alright!" a different voice exclaimed, clearing the white mist like a veil being lifted up and away.

Sakura blinked. Hinata was kneeling over her, a cut decorating her left cheek. Sitting up, she could fully take in the scene. Lee was lying protectively on top of Gai unconscious while Naruto lay a little farther away. Sasuke was no where to be seen, but they were surrounded by a low-roofed, blue flame-like dome that seemed to be repelling any attack made on it. A few stray kunai lay on the ground in a few places, but there was no blood, indicating no one had been injured

"What… happened?" Sakura asked slowly, trying to take in the situation. "We should all be dead. I saw those kunai. They defiantly hit us."

Hinata nodded. "I… didn't see the e-entire thing, but I know Sasuke's… friends are h-ere now, so maybe they had something t-to do with it."

At this Sakura began looking wildly around, trying to find these people in which Hinata was speaking about. That's when she noticed that she didn't see Sasuke because he was behind her. His hair tie had come undone so now his hair was just a mass of raven-blue that covered most of his face. He was kneeling, his right arm extended above him so that his finger-tips just touched the top of the dome. His head was lowered so she couldn't see his eyes, but going on knowledge she had gained during her medical training, she could tell he was in a lot of pain.

"Sasuke?" she whispered, crawling over to him. "You alright?"

Sasuke lifted his head slightly, allowing his eyes to make sense of the blob he was seeing. After confirming that it was human, he began to make out the colours, which lead to confirming the blob as Sakura.

"Now that's two people awake…" he muttered to himself. "Sakura, I'm going to have to ask you to take care of Naruto and Lee."

And with that, his body ignited and became part of the barrier, thus disappearing. Hinata blinked after him and let out a sigh of relief as the roof of the barrier grew enough that a normal person could stand up. With the extra room, Naruto and Lee began to stir, who Sakura tended to immediately.

Within a couple minutes, both boys were fully awake, Naruto more than Lee. The young jounin was still devastated by the lost of his beloved sensei, but no one had the heart to tell him that what had been done was the right thing to do. If they had let him live, they would be dead right now. Sure, they could have just knocked him out, but what then? Would they leave him to wake up and find them again, or would they take him with them and take the risk that when he woke up he would dispose of them? Hinata wouldn't forgive herself though. As soon as Lee started crying again, she buried herself in her arms and wouldn't respond to anything.

"Hinata?" Naruto tried for the umpteenth time. "Please Hinata, don't cry. Seeing you sad only makes me sad."

After there was no response, he sighed. "I give up! Sulk all you want about it, but nothing's going to change. What's done is done and Lee's just going to have to get over it."

And with that, he stood up and walked away, not noticing the Hyuuga girl flinch at his words. Sakura watched her for a while longer before turning her attention to Lee. The poor boy was in a seiza position (1) with tears flowing down his face and landing on Gai's. Naruto had a point though: Lee was just going to have to get over it. There was nothing anyone could do anymore, and no matter how much he cried, nothing would change.

She sighed heavily and stared into space. Sasuke had left quite a while ago, if indeed he had left in the first place. There was no way to tell time right now, but Sakura predicted it had been at least half-an-hour since she awoke. Hinata had been too traumatized to talk much after she woke Sakura up, so the medic-nin had no way of knowing who the other Element Users were. Sure, she had seen them on the 'Discovery Night' as it was being called now, but what she really needed to know was how close Sasuke was to these people. She didn't know much about the Element Users, but she knew enough to know that they were reincarnated every hundred years with their memories in tact, and that was reason enough to want to know how really close he was to them.

"_Geez_," she thought to herself. "_Just when you think you understand him, he pops up with something new…_"

"So, you guys bored yet?"

Sakura jumped slightly and turned around to see a dark-haired boy with piercing onyx eyes standing behind her. He wore the same type of cloak (2) as Sasuke except it was light blue. Oddly enough, he had a fish bowl strapped to his back.

"_So this must be the Element User of Water,_" Sakura concluded silently. "_What ever happened to the mark on his forehead? Come to think of it, Sasuke didn't have one either…_"

"So who are you suppose to be?" Naruto asked curtly, almost making Sakura fall flat on her face.

"Me?" the other boy questioned teasingly. "Well, I'm Mishanata Sota of the Foaming Sea, but everyone just calls me Sota. And who are you?"

"Stop teasing him Sota," another boy said, suddenly appearing out of nearly nothing. "I believe that is the one called 'Narato'."

Naruto blinked. "I know you! You're that Kohaku guy Sasuke was talking to that night! And my name's not 'Narato,' its 'Naruto'."

"It matters not," Kohaku said, waving his hand dismissively. "What matters now is getting out of the predicament that is laid out before us."

"Stop trying to talk smart Kohaku," a pink-haired girl said from behind him. "We all know you're just trying to put on a good act for the Normal Borns."

Sakura straightened up suddenly. She walked over and examined Kaiya's hair, looking at it to the smallest detail. Never in her life had she seen hair that was so close to the colour of her own. It looked exactly like her hair, except Kaiya seemed to have bleached it lightly, draining it of its rich colour.

"Um… can I help you?"

It was then Sakura realized how stupid she must look. She muttered an apology before going over to Hinata to check on the Hyuuga girl. She was still sitting with her head in her knees just as Sakura had seen her last time. She didn't even seem to have noticed that there were more people in the barrier than just the people she knew.

Lee was somewhat dazed at all the people coming into the barrier, and his eyes were dull and lifeless. Naruto took one look at him and knew he was never going to snap out of it. What was more, if he did snap out of it, he would probably kill Hinata, and that wasn't a chance he was willing to take.

"Seven people," he said in a far voice. "There are seven people here now…"

"Um… Lee?" Hinata said timidly, looking over at him and speaking of the first time in a while. "There are only six people if you don't count yourself."

"No, he's right," Kaiya said, running her fingers through her hair. "Sasuke's friend is here too. He's been watching you guys for a long while now."

After everyone exchanged confused looks, a shimmer of green spread from the ground up and Shinzaburo Toshiro flickered into view. His red hair came to about his shoulders, and his moustache had been curled at the ends. His ANBU mask was on top of his head, and a large grin decorated his face.

"So you knew," he said smoothly. "Well, it makes sense. I'm not here to arrest you or anything," he added quickly. "Uchiha-san has been on quite a few of my recon missions as a captain. He has become a good friend, and I just wanted to help."

Naruto grumbled something about wanting to kill them the last time they had met, but thought better of saying anything out loud. Lee's eyes cleared from the fogginess they had been enshrouded in for the past little while, only to see Gai's body once more. He held back his tears this time, although all eyes were on him and Hinata.

"What happened… happened," he said calmly. "Nothing can change what has happened in the past. Gai-sensei, no; Gai-sama will always be in my heart."

Everyone lowered their heads in a silent prayer, and Lee wept the last tears he could shed.

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Shikamaru and Ino weren't sure what was going on. One second they were in the Hokage's office, the next they were in a jungle oasis jam-packed with jounin from the five Great Shinobi Countries. They quickly hid themselves in the foliage of the trees, setting up a box of camouflage sheets and concealing themselves inside.

"What the heck is going on?" Ino whisper-yelled. "Why are all the jounin here? I don't get it!"

"I got here at the same time as you," Shikamaru reminded her. "I have no clue what's going on either, but for now we're going to have to play it cool until we can figure out what _is _going on. Got it?"

Ino nodded slowly before lifting up a corner of one of the sheets to see if anything had calmed down. Suddenly a high pitched whistle erupted from somewhere to their right, sending all of the jounin in that direction.

"_Hollow tree in the third quadrant_," a somewhat familiar voice shouted. "_Four from Konoha are with him. Orders say that no survivors are to be left and…_"

There was suddenly a scream, and then there was nothing. Shikamaru and Ino held their breath, daring the slightest sound to break the silence. As he strained his ears, the Nara could just barely make out the sounds of thousands upon thousands of kunai being thrown. He looked at Ino, and she nodded her head to show she had also heard it.

After they had sat like that for a grand total of five minutes, they crawled out of the camouflage. The oasis-forest was deathly silent. Like the calm before the storm. Thinking smart, Shikamaru put up a transformation to make Ino and himself appear to be jounin from the Hidden Village in the Sand. They headed off in the direction of where the last sound had been, moving east through the fading light.

"It'll be harder to see when it gets too dark," Shikamaru muttered to himself. "Better hurry…"

"You two!"

The pair stopped dead in their tracks, whirling around to face the person who had shouted. To their amazement, Tsunade stood behind, glaring at them.

"Can you tell me where the other jounin are?" she asked suspiciously.

"Tsunade-sama, it's us, Yamanaka Ino and Nara Shikamaru," Ino whispered, dispelling the transformation.

"And I think you probably know more than us about the current situation," the Nara said, dispelling his transformation as well. "For starters, why are all the jounin here in the first place?"

The older women hesitated for a moment, thinking over her options. She could _not_ tell them what was going on and have them go home unharmed, but then they wouldn't be able to assist her. If she _did_ tell them, the two would involve themselves in something far beyond they're level of knowledge - well, Shikamaru would be okay – and could even wind up dead. She didn't like the looks of the latter, but the former looked equally disapproving, if not more.

She sighed. "I came here with Sasuke, Sakura, Lee, Naruto and Hinata to meet with the Raikage to discuss the attack she sent out the other day. As it turns out, she just wants the Element User of Fire who came with me so that she could… hypnotise them as she did to the Element User of Lightning."

Shikamaru nodded in acknowledgment but noted the fact that Tsunade had taken care not to mention the Element User's name, or the reason that Sasuke was with her. "So… did you get separated or something?"

Tsunade sighed again and shook her head. "I told them to hide themselves so that the Raikage and I could talk, however that Element User of Lightning dispelled the barrier that was here and let in all those jounin. I didn't know what else to do, so I just ran and hid. Then I saw you two, and then you told me who you were and the rest is history."

Ino had a worried look on her face. "I think we should find the others from Konoha first. Then we can worry about the jounin and the Raikage and stuff."

"I agree," Shikamaru said. "We heard someone that sounded sort of like Gai in an eastern-ly direction. I think that's our best bet."

It was now too dark to see, but the Leaf Shinobi had no problem following one another through the darkness. They didn't have to see each other. A strange blue light was their destination, but what exactly that blue light _was_ was starting to bug them. About twenty metres away from the source of the glow they had to stop their progress to avoid being seen by the jounin that were surrounding it. They made up a camouflage tent and quickly found a common hare for Ino to scout from. (3)

She didn't really enjoy being a rabbit, but given the circumstances, Ino would rather take her chances as a hare than as a human with the jounin. The only problem was movement. Hares jumped in quite an odd fashion, and it took a good five minutes to get use to the hopping rhythm of it. She jumped past the first couple jounin from the Hidden Village in the Stones with ease, pausing every few bounces as any normal rabbit should to sniff the air for nothing in particular. The next rings of jounin were from the Hidden Village in the Mist. A scary bunch to be sure. One of them looked Ino's way and grinned in an evil way, sending shivers up her tiny little spine. Suna and Konoha were easy to pass just as the stones were. She almost felt a pang of disappointment that Asuma didn't even take his eyes off of… what ever it was that he was looking at while she passed. The jounin of the Hidden Village in the Clouds encircled the closest ring of jounin. Past them was the source of the blue light.

As entrancing as it was, Ino couldn't help but feel drawn towards it. The closer she go to it, the more she became aware of the jounin's eyes upon her. Soon she was close enough to touch it, but thought better of it seeing as it was fire. Many kunai scattered the edges around it, leading Ino to the conclusion that this was where all the sound was coming from.

"Psssst."

Ino panicked inside, but managed to just casually twitch her ears in the direction of the sound.

"Pssssst. Hare, over here."

Having no choice now, Ino turned her little rabbit head to see another rabbit facing her. This rabbit was tinged a yellow-ish colour, and its ears were in the shape of lightning bolts. Its forehead bore the kanji of 'lightning', but it had a gentle look to it.

"If you want inside, please follow me," it said in the rabbit tongue, forcing Ino to search through her host's mind to find the translation.

Ino followed the Element animal to the back side of the fire dome, where a small opening just big enough for a hare Ino's current size to slip through.

"My name is Toki," the rabbit said to her in Japanese, alerting the jounin. "Please go inside, and listen to what Uchiha-san will say. Then leave this animal inside and return to your own body. Please hurry, there isn't much time until the hypnosis becomes irreversible."

The jounin took out a couple kunai and threw them in Ino and Toki's direction. Toki evaded and pushed Ino through the gap, opening her into a new world. As soon as she was through, the aperture closed and Ino lost sight of Toki.

"Took your time hopping over here," an utterly familiar voice said to her.

She spun around to see Sasuke kneeling down in front of her. She hopped over closer to him and looked up at him with telling eyes.

"Yamanaka Ino, correct?"

The best she could do was nod.

"Listen closely to what I am about to tell you," Sasuke said sternly. "You have to memorize this, so if you wish for me to repeat something, tap your foot twice. After this immediately return to your body and tell this information to Nara Shikamaru and Hokage-sama as quickly as possible. What you do after that will be up to Shikamaru, and I can only hope this will turn out for the best…"

* * *

**Definitions**

(1) – Seiza Position – Japanese sitting position where you kneel with your hands on your lap and the heels of your feet are tucked under your butt

(2) – Cloak – It comes to my attention that what I picture in my mind as a cloak is not really a cloak. A cloak is an article of clothing intended for use outdoors that is more of an overgrown coat than anything. What I think a cloak is is a bit different. I think a cloak is something like an overgrown poncho kind of thing. Like a really long, sleeveless coat that has one fastener at the top at the collar. You know? Well, I don't really know what to call it, but I'm still going to call is a cloak. Just a little F.Y.I. to make sure you're not picturing the wrong thing in your mind.

(3) – Ino scouting inside an animal – This was seen in the manga when Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru and Kakashi were going to go ambush those two Akatsuki dudes whose names escape me for the time being… She was in a hawk in the manga, but a hare works just as well.

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And there you have it. Chapter 25 is up. At the absolute most there will be 30 chapters. I'm going to try to end it in at least 3 more chapters though, hopefully less though. This isn't the point I actually wanted to end the chapter, but I thought better something than nothing. Drat, my social's teacher is starting to rub off on me... Darn you school!!!!! 


	26. Danger Fast Approaching

Yay! I finally updated! That didn't take too long... only about 2 months...

Couple of announcements before we start with our close-to-the-end chapter.

1) I plan on ending this story on 30, but I'm not sure I'll be able to drag it out that long... Either that or I've got at least 2 more good chapters left in me.

2) On January 14, we offically hit this story's first birthday! That's right: I started this thing almost exactly 1 year ago; 12 months; 52 weeks; 365 days; 8 760 hours; 525 600 minutes; 31 536 000 seconds... I'll shut up now.

3) Naruto: Shippuuden (hurricanne chronicals) finally started! No more fillers! I highly suggest that you watch at least the last filler arc before starting it. Sasuke kicks butt in the beginning, but that's normal for our Uchiha. I've kind of got the opening song stuck in my head, but I'm sure that'll go away soon enough... I hope...

and finally 4) I fear because of school and self-studying I won't be able to get the next chapter out until maybe spring break... I really hope I can get another one out by then, but you never know with me. Oh, and by self-studying, I mean teaching myself to read Japanese and at least get a good understanding of how to speak it. And no, I'm not getting this from anime and stuff. I've got a bunch of computer programs and cds and heck: there's a Japanese class I can take at school next school year. I've also taken it upon myself to learn all their holidays and festivals and blah... Their school year is ending in March and will start up again in April, but they still get the long summer break. You know, sometimes I wish I were Japanese...

On with the chapter!!

**NOTE:** I do not own Naruto, or any of it's characters. That belongs to Masashi Kishimoto-san. All I own is my plot, the Element Users, and the many, many... too many characters I've come up with for this story/fan-fiction alone.

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**Chapter 26:**

Danger Fast Approaching

Sakura stared blankly at the scroll Sasuke had given her. It was not unlike the one Sasuke had pocketed, however it was profoundly different. For one thing, it was not a solid colour. Whenever she tilted it to the right, it shone reds and yellows. Tilting it to the left showed her blues and purples. Only when she levelled her eyes to it did it show the entire colour spectrum. She was tempted to opening it, but she though it better if Sasuke told her when to open it. The only part she had read was the edge of the flap, and all it had said was 'It'. _Very_ helpful…

"You going to read it or no?" Sasuke said behind her, watching curiously as she jumped in the air.

"How…?" was the first word out of her mouth. "Wait; stupid question. When did you get here?"

"A couple seconds ago," he said frankly, shrugging. "I would have thought curiosity had enticed you enough to read it by now. I guess I miss-judged you a bit."

Sakura pouted by proceeded to read the scroll. Indeed the first word of it was 'it', but the grammar in this scroll seemed to relate to times when parchment was just beginning to develop. She skimmed it first, sorting out the grammar errors before reading to herself it in depth:

"_The beginning of an end. That's what the village elders are calling our pathetic wish. It's almost a pity it came true. Through the planets and the stars, the heavens and earth, our sons and daughters have been bestowed with the powers of the elements around us. We know not what to do, nor what will become of them. They have become a new class of humans… no._

_Even as I write this, I know this peacefulness cannot last. Although things will eventually reveal themselves to the children, I regret to know that they were not randomly chosen by the heavens. Great things will be expected from them, and I can only hope for the best. Lady Aboshi, our village priestess, has giving her blessings to the children. I know not what they are, but I know her powers match that of a lowly god, and that they are something to be reckoned with._

_With the ceremony over, Tomoko, my lovely wife, and I have decided we must leave the village. The parents of the other eleven children will not favour our choice, but it is for the best. So long as we are separate, maybe we can avoid conflict. There have been many villages dedicated to the art of the ninja scattered throughout the land, and I plan on settling there. The closest one is said to be hidden in leaves though, so I hope dearly that we will be able to find it._

_As for the child's name, that is undecided as of yet. We had a few names in mind, however because of this elemental revelation, we are again in doubt. We are unknowing to the child's powers, so his name may reflect that. What ever may happen, I leave this scroll with Tomenaki-san to show the village once we are far enough away that no pursuers may follow us. We leave tonight, as soon as the sun sets over the village. May the gods smile down upon this village in our absence and our sins forgiven…"_

Sakura pulled the scroll further a ways to reveal the scripture's end. Sasuke had sat down beside her and was oddly staring in front of him.

"The child's name… Do you know what it was?" he asked suddenly, his face blank.

"Well the village this man seems to be talking about going to appears to be Konoha," Sakura said awkwardly. "That means it's one of your past lives, I guess…"

Sasuke nodded, his face still clear of all expression. "The child's name was Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke. The man that wrote that was my original father, Uchiha Sousuke, who I was named after. That's about when this whole mess started."

"Then, how long ago was that?"

Sasuke considered for a moment before replying. "About ten lives ago, so I guess that makes it around a thousand years ago give or take a few years."

"So that's why you always glared at the teacher in history class," Sakura said thoughtfully. "We probably get history all wrong, don't we?"

"Not really… Besides, I only know every hundred years or so. Everything in between is as new to me as it is to you."

"Why did you give me this scroll?"

There was a long pause between the question and the answer. "Because Lady Aboshi thought it best to put our plans in the same scroll as the only recording of the beginning of our existence."

Sakura pulled the scroll out to its full length to find more writing near its end. Arrows, diagrams, asterisks and a ton of text littered the other end of the scroll. Sakura stared at it for a few seconds before bursting out laughing.

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Shikamaru's body was tense as he waited for the signal. Ino was resting in a hollow tree behind him, but once she was needed for the plan she would be sure to be present. Tsunade was carefully positioned at the other side of the jounin circle, also awaiting the signal. Sasuke had told Ino it may take a while, but it had been well over an hour.

"This is a lot more troublesome than I thought it would be," he muttered to himself. To think it had only been two hours before he was sleeping his life away…

"Shikamaru…"

Turning toward Ino's voice, he saw with surprise that she was surrounded by six people about her age each bearing a kanji symbol on their foreheads. On instinct he pulled out a kunai from his weapons pouch, but quickly found that it had been sealed shut with a layer of sand. Also on instinct he looked around for Gaara, but saw no one else besides these people. Forcing himself to be calm, he glared at the tallest one, a big muscular fellow with the kanji Shikamaru could only now recognize at 'stone'.

"What do you want with us?" he asked slowly, never taking his eyes off the stone guy.

"We mean you no harm, shinobi," he said, his voice thick with an unknown accent. "We only wish that you do no harm to us as well."

"Do you know Uchiha Sasuke?" a girl that seemed a bit younger than the rest popped up also with a thick accent, her forehead bearing the kanji of 'snow'. "He was suppose to be positioned at the Hidden Ninja Village of the Leaves, which is where you're forehead-protector is from, correct?"

Shikamaru was taken aback. "Yeah, I do actually. Do you guys know him or something?"

"That depends on how you look at it," the stone guy said. "To what acquaintanceship have you with Sasuke?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but answered the question anyway. "I guess you could say he's a friend. Right now we're trying to get him and a couple of other friends out of a rather sticky situation. Could you allow my friend out of your circle now please?"

Ino rushed over to Shikamaru, but made it clear that she wasn't afraid of them. He whispered quickly to her, telling her to keep a look out for the signal while he took care of the others. She nodded solemnly before jumping a few trees away as to not interfere but to be close enough to be of help should a fight occur.

Shikamaru turned his attention back to the group of now apparent Element Users. In total there were six of them, each with a different kanji symbol on their forehead, a different colour of cloak and with some sort of animal next to them. The smallest, the girl that had popped up, had a penguin on her perched on her head much like Kiba with Akamaru. The boy next to her who was roughly the same height and had similar looks bore the kanji of 'mist' on his forehead, and had a little monkey clinging on his arm. The 'stone guy' stepped forward before he could look further, staring at him with cold eyes.

"Forgive our hostilities, but we must ask you to take us to Uchiha Sasuke," he said in his own thick accent, a grey snake silently worming its way around his arm. "We have travelled… a far distance, and must speak with someone from the Shinobi Lands group before proceeding to our next location."

Shikamaru nodded subconsciously, not really paying attention. Through Ino he had learnt Sasuke was the Element User of Fire, and that even though he wasn't the leader for this lifetime, he was perceived as one to the others. Since Sasuke had also explained to Ino that all six Element Users from the Shinobi lands were present, he concluded these people were from the Samurai Lands. It would explain their accent, as well as the elemental marks on their foreheads. The only thing it didn't explain was why these people were able to appear without him noticing. Without even realizing it, he began to think of a way to incorporate these people into his plan.

"_This could work better than our original plan…"_ he thought to himself.

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Inside the fire dome, Sakura was just finishing reading the scroll. It seemed simple enough. Hinata and Lee were doing a lot better than when she first started reading. Naruto, Lee, Hinata, and two of the Element Users were all sitting cross-legged in a circle, talking quite animatedly and sharing laughs among each other.

Sasuke was still beside her, his eyes closed in a relaxing position. He was only there still because she had pestered him to no end on more details about the place they were going to go, but all ended with the answer that the place didn't exist yet. She had agreed to come with the Element Group as long as Naruto and Lee did. She didn't know about Hinata since she was technically heir to the Hyuuga clan, but only time would tell.

She had started memorizing the names of the Element Users as she read more and more detail within the scroll. So far, she could only identify Kaiya and Sota, since they were the friendliest and were currently helping Lee and Hinata get over the trauma of the recent events. Kohaku had disappeared somewhere and Sasuke refused to say where, and the other boy she had yet to meet, Imara, was apparently trying to find Kora.

For Sakura, the real question at the moment was where the kanji on their foreheads had gone. Before, they had been using a special medallion, but the feudal lord had taken Sasuke's and the mark still wasn't there. She has wanted to question him on the subject, but thought better of it after her little… _interrogation_, as she was calling it.

Lee's sudden movement towards her brought her back into reality. He sat on her other side, and looked at her with a worried expression on his face.

"What is it that is troubling you Sakura?" he asked in his unique grammatical way of speaking.

"Nothing's troubling me," she said kindly. "Are you feeling better?"

Lee shrugged. "More or less. In truth, it will take a while to get over, but Sota is a very funny person to be around. I enjoy his company very much."

Sakura nodded subconsciously. It had suddenly dawned on her that they had been sitting around for over two hours doing absolutely nothing. She had meant to question the Sasuke, but…

"Ummm… Sakura?"

Sakura looked up from her mid-daze to looking into the Hyuuga's lavender eyes. She smiled softly and nodded for her to go on.

"Umm… I was wondering… where Sasuke went…"

Sakura's head shot up and looked around, but couldn't find Sasuke anywhere. How could she not have noticed him leave? He was right beside her! She started panicking, but even she didn't understand why.

"I... I don't know," she stuttered, flustered. "He was here a minute ago…"

"And I'm still here," Sasuke shouted from the other side of the dome where he was talking with Kaiya, Sota, and a newly returned Kohaku waving his right arm to get her attention.

Sakura let out a breath she didn't know she was holding; relieved she could keep a slight tag on her team mate. Beside her, Lee began to get worried. Weren't Sakura and _him_ together? He bit his lower lip, trying to think in the midst of his mind, panicking ever so slightly. He put his utmost trust in Sakura, but he didn't like the fact it was being doubted. When something like this usually occurred, Lee would go to Gai for help. Tears began to swell up in his eyes, but he quickly brushed them away. Instead, he tried to think of what Tenten might say.

"_Suck it up Lee. I thought you were all youthful and everything. So she's worried about a friend; big deal. You get worried about me sometimes, so don't be so protective of her."_

Lee let a small smile show on his face. Yup, that was Tenten all right. Now that he thought of it, when would he see Tenten again? Just as he began to ponder that, Sasuke came up and spoke very softly:

"We're leaving now. Prepare to hang on to something."

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From where Shikamaru stood, the impact waves from the explosion still pushed him a good twenty metres away from his original place.

"_Well, I guess that's the signal_," he thought grimly as the jounin were also blown away, right to where Shikamaru had been only seconds before.

The fire dome that had been protecting their friends plus the Element Users had just exploded, just like _that_. Shikamaru wasted no time even though his ears were still ringing, blocking out any sound that was to be heard. Part of his plan was knowing that the jounin's ears would be even worse than his own since they had been closer. He dove through the trees to the detonation cord he had implanted just minutes before. He sent a small jolt of chakra through the end of the cord, and watched as smoke bombs detonated within the places the jounin had been relocated to. Tsunade sparked off her detonation cord just moments after he did, engulfing the other side in smoke as well.

"Keioko!" he shouted, though he couldn't hear his own voice yet. "Keep the cloud of smoke down for as long as you can!"

A teenage girl jumped onto the tree above him, the kanji of 'cloud' burning brightly on her forehead. Her cloak swirled a dim reddish-pinkish colour around her, almost illuminating her sunrise orange hair. The hilt of her katana was slightly visible from the front, but only if you knew what you were looking for. Even from where Shikamaru stood on the ground, her eye colour was as clear as the day itself: pure silver. Beside her, a purple tinged cloud leopard stood at about knee height, its tail thrashing back and forth. The girl, Keioko, gave him a salute, and then disappeared.

Shikamaru then dove into the smoke cloud, running in a straight line to avoid getting lost. He could only hope Ino wasn't in too much pain from the explosion to forget to look for the Hokage. Tsunade he knew he could count on. The only problem was the Element Users. He had to find Sasuke and explain the change in plans before they had a chance to fully carry through with their part.

Meanwhile, Ino was jumping from tree branch to tree branch, pausing every few seconds to hold her ears out of the pain. She should have listened when Keioko had told her to plug her ears and open her mouth. So much for that. Beside her, the twins jumped at even pace, completely at home in the trees.

The girl, who Ino had come to know as Menko Kaori, had the kanji of 'snow' burning brightly on her forehead, her long brown hair waving wildly in the wind. The penguin on her head seemed unfazed by the craziness of her nature, hanging onto the top of her head as if it was its only procession. Though she only came up to her chin, it unnerved Ino to know that the girl was stronger than her. Kaori's cloak was the lightest blue in the colour spectrum, hiding her arms as she flipped in the air.

Her brother was of equal height to his sister, and the exact same face along with it. The only way to tell them apart was the length of their hair, which his was shorter than Kaori's. Also, Menko Heruka's personality was a little more subdued than his sister. On his forehead the kanji or 'mist' burned brightly, matching the colouring of his turquoise cloak. His little monkey friend was somehow motionless on his shoulder, big eyes looking around as if they stationary.

Both of them carried two katanas on their backs, each sheathed and yet to been seen. Ino had asked why they carried two while the others only carried one, but they shrugged the question off. Now, as the three of them raced off towards where Tsunade was suppose to meet them, the Yamanaka couldn't help but think these two were more important than they seemed.

"_Almost like the pieces are falling into place of some messed up game board of life_," Ino thought to herself, before jumping to the next branch in her way.

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Just as Kaiya said it would, when the dome exploded, the inside of it became something of a vacuum. She was able to reverse it slightly, be not enough to keep Naruto on the ground. He was flung against a tree and clung on for dear life, making sure to keep his mouth closed so what little oxygen he had stayed inside him. When the vacuum subsided, Naruto opened his eyes and got a good look as to how much things had changed on the outside.

They were surrounded in smoke, and from what he could tell, it was directly from a smoke bomb. He could see faint shadows of the jounin that were within the smoke, but the Konoha group plus Element Users were heading in a seemingly random direction before he could figure out why. Sasuke was leading the way, with Kaiya not far behind. Then came Sakura, Lee and Sota. Hinata and himself came after, and Kohaku brought up the rear, keeping a Byakugan eye behind them. They headed straight into the smoke, Kaiya clearing the way with some seemingly unneeded difficulty. After a nervous glance at Sasuke, who nodded firmly, they headed on.

"N-Naruto?" Hinata said over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know. They seem to have a plan though," Naruto said, hoping he sounded more assuring than he felt. "I know Sasuke, and he wouldn't put us in any danger if necessary, so we'll just follow along for now."

Hinata nodded and turned her head back to the front. After a minute or two, she asked, "Are... you going?"

"Going where?"

"Y-you know... With Sasuke and Kaiya and the other Element Users," she explained sheepishly. "Ummm... like, to the island..."

A little motor in Naruto's head finally kicked into gear and completely understood what was being asked. Sota had talked about how when they finally lost the jounin, they would be going to an island not that was yet-to-exist. He also said that they had would have to make one of two choices. They could either go back to Konoha with the Hokage after meeting up with her, or they could come with them to the yet-to-exist island. Sota had made it clear that if they chose to come, they'd be isolated from the rest of the world for just about ever. Naruto honestly didn't know what to do. If anything, he would stick by Hinata, what ever her choice may be, but that would mean losing contact with Sasuke and possibly Sakura. However, should he go with them, he would lose his chance to become Hokage, something he was not willing to give up on just yet.

In the end, he ended up shrugging for an answer. "I'll just follow you," he said with a smile.

Hinata in turn smiled, happy at the thought.

"Naruto! Hinata! Look out!"

Everyone's head turned at the voice, only a second later to watch Shikamaru crash into Naruto head on, both of them tumbling over the branch he had landed on and onto the ground with a _thump_.

"Shi... Shikamaru?" Hinata exclaimed, jumping down to help Naruto up. "What are you d-doing here?"

"I can't hear you," Shikamaru said louder than needed, pointing to his ears. "The explosion popped my ears."

Sakura giggled and jumped down. With a green-glowing hand, she tapped his ears and stood back. It took a moment for sound to register in his head, but when it did, it was louder than expected. He crouched on the ground holding his ears in pain, muttering something about how troublesome it was to be in compete silence for ten minutes and suddenly getting noise again without warning.

"If you're here, that means there's been a change in plans," Sasuke stated, jumping down to meet them.

"That's why we had more trouble than was expected breeching the smoke-bomb, right?" Kaiya said, landing next to Sasuke.

"Yeah, you could say that..." the pineapple-head (1) said, standing up and scratching the back of his head. "I had Keioko keep the cloud down until we were all clear."

"Hayashi Keioko?" Kohaku asked, looking at Shikamaru with questioning eyes.

"Yeah, that's what she said her name was," the Nara replied. "The whole group spoke with some sort of accent. I'm assuming they're from the Samurai Lands?"

"You mean the second group of Element Users, right?" Sakura put in enthusiastically, glad she knew about what they were talking about for once.

Sasuke nodded. "I think I've told you before, way back last year."

"How come I don't remember any of this?" Naruto asked, crossing his arms.

"Cause I erased parts of your memory to shut you up and then knocked you out," Sasuke retorted.

"So _that's_ what happened!" Sakura exclaimed, remembering that night.

"That's not the point right now!" Sota shouted, shocking everyone. "What changes are there now?"

Shikamaru sighed. "I've assigned them different duties according to their different abilities. Like how Keioko is holding down the smoke cloud. Lif's thickening the foliage here and Seto's coating the trees around the jounin with a thick layer of sand to make them slippery. Then I've got Amichi making a pathway to the place where we plan to lose them, and Kaori and Heruka with Ino to pick up Tsunade."

"How is it you have already memorized all of their names..." Lee muttered.

"You've got **_Heruka and Kaori_ **of all people to help Ino?!" Kohaku cried, trying without success to not freak out. "Didn't their introductions tell you enough about their personality?"

The examiner shrugged. "I figured they'd be best to help protect Tsunade, seeing as they had the most weaponry of the six."

"That's the problem," Sasuke explained calmly. "They may not look like much, but they're both the craziest and strongest two people in all of the Samurai Lands. Those two have killed more men in one lifetime than you will in any amount lives. If or when a fight occurs, I doubt they'll be able to control themselves and that, in itself, will ruin the plan."

"Oh..."

There was a moments silence as the words sunk in, but before long, Kaiya's head snapped up where it had drooped.

"Well, there's nothing that can be done about it right now," she said almost happily. "For now, we'll continue out our part of the operation. If all goes well, we can be done and out of here before they have a chance to go crazy."

Everyone nodded and they leaped on, putting Shikamaru between Naruto and Kohaku.

"_Ino, please be safe…_" he thought before completely submitting himself to the jump.

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"About time," Tsunade complained, almost invisible through the smoke cloud.

Ino shook her head. "I forgot to plug my ears during the explosion. Won't be able to hear for a while. Sorry."

The Hokage rolled her eyes and tapped Ino's ears, returning sound gradually to her eardrums. Ino blinked a couple times before smiling.

"Thanks," she said, rubbing her ears fondly. "Oh, I'd like to introduce Menko Kaori and Menko Heruka; Element Users of snow and mist from the Samurai Lands."

The twins bowed simultaneously, their animals jumping onto the ground. Tsunade bowed in turn, never taking her eyes off the two. So they were Element Users: big deal. That only meant they were powerful. She trusted Sasuke since Naruto and Sakura were under her command, but it annoyed her to no extent that there seemed to be another Element User popping up every three seconds. She sighed and looked straight at Ino.

"If Shikamaru's original plan wasn't confusing enough, it just got even more confusing," she stated. "So what's the _new_ plan?"

"Well, there's no way we're ever going to get passed those jounin…" Ino started.

"So we're clearing a path to lead them into a trap to immobilize them so that we can get away," Kaori finished for her in a voice that sounded much younger than she was.

"Our job is to escort you to a meeting place where some of your shinobi may or may not meet up with you," Heruka said in a bored tone.

"May or may not?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

Ino looked just as confused as she stared at the twins, looking for an explanation. The two Menko just shrugged and turned to leave.

"We need to get going," they said simultaneously. "The battle has begun…"

And at that moment, another explosion erupted on the far side of the oasis, where the impact waves still slightly baffled the shinobi and samurai where they stood. Tsunade and Ino looked at each other once more before running off in the direction of the blast, the twins right behind them.

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(1) - Shikamaru being a pineapple-head – When you look at his head close enough, his round head shape plus his pony-tail make his head look like a pineapple. Just go look at a side view of his head and you'll see what I'm talking about. I've been calling him 'shika' (meaning deer in Japanese oddly enough) and pineapple-head for a while now. Just thought I'd point it out.

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And another chapter is done... I hope I won't take too long to update again, but you never know with me.. ever... 


	27. Safe

No, I'm not dead, but thank you for the pretty roses! The coffin was unneeded though...

Okay, so it's been about (-counts on fingers-) 4 months since I last updated. And I didn't forget about it! I was working on it! Honestly! I just had a HUGE writers block (and unfortunately, it's very evident in the chapter...)

Plus, the manga decieded to go on a Sasuke arc, so I was busy trying not to bite my fingers off waiting for the next chapter to come out.

In fact, I'm only done this chapter at this time because school's been out offically for about a week now. And I have the entire house to myself, and that means the computer too. (-happy grin-)

Bit of bad news to spoil your day: this is the last chapter. All done! No more! I killed it! (-hides from people throwing things-) But! I have an epilogue that I will upload later. Maybe in a couple minutes depending on my mood...

Don't exactly know what else to say...

**Disclaimer:** Naruto and all characters and themes and all the cool stuff belong to Masashi Kishimoto-sama. My plot and my characters, and this concept belong to me. End of discussion.

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**Chapter 27:**

Safe

Naruto and gang sprinted across the last of the trees before they came into open ground. There, where no vegetation could be seen anywhere, was where Sasuke stopped.

"Oi Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. "Isn't this a stupid place to stop?"

Sota ran up so he was behind Naruto and covered his mouth firmly.

"Be quiet or you'll ruin the surprise!" he said sarcastically. "We stopped here on purpose, don't worry. We've got a plan."

Naruto nodded and Sota released him, walking over to Kohaku, Kaiya soon joining them. Sakura was still trying to get her bearings, Lee right beside her. Hinata tapped Naruto on the shoulder lightly, and stared at him with large eyes when he turned around.

"The jounin…" she whispered. "Every single one of them… they're heading directly for us… r-right to this spot."

Before Naruto could yell at Sasuke again, a layer of stone rushed up to his feet, making both him and Hinata fall over. The path continued before it stopped in front of Sakura, who looked ready to punch the ground should it come any nearer. At the end of the stone path, a large boy suddenly appeared, his short hair somehow obscuring his facial expression.

"Amichi!" Shikamaru shouted before Kohaku just to prove he could, gaining an annoyed expression from the other boy. Shikamaru just smirked.

"Greetings, Nara Shikamaru," Amichi said in a gruff voice, an accent think in his voice. "I come to warn you of the bigger ninja's approach. They be here very soon."

Shikamaru sported a confused expression from being reported to before nodding for good measure. He cast a glance at Kohaku to find the white haired boy close to a temper tantrum, held back by his half brother.

"_This could get fun…"_ he thought to himself, grinning.

"What'cha all doing?"

Naruto jumped to see a darker skinned boy grinning at him, a tiny mole with a drill-like snout resting on his shoulder. There were patches of dirt here and there on his cloak, be nevertheless, he was there.

"Imara! Did you find Kora?" Sota exclaimed, still holding Kohaku back from attacked Shikamaru.

Imara's eyes cast downward. "No… But I did find out that the jounin know where you are."

"As I just said," Amichi grumbled.

"If that's the case, we should probably start preparations…" Kaiya started, eyeing Kohaku.

Said boy got the hint and straighten up, knocking over Sota in the process. "I agree. Shikamaru, Sakura, Lee, Naruto and Hinata need to be moved away from the area though."

"What's going on?" Sakura asked nervously.

"We're getting rid of the jounin," Kohaku stated firmly.

"But… Kurenai-sensei and Kakashi-sensei… Even Asuma-sensei are there," Hinata pointed out alarmingly.

"He didn't phrase it very well," Sota said, bopping him on the head. "He meant we're going to lose them so they'll stop following us."

"But how-" Lee started

"No buts," Sasuke interrupted. "Just go hide for now. Stay hidden, and don't come out until we give the okay."

The five reluctantly nodded before taking cover nearby in the trees surrounding the space. From where they were, they couldn't hear what was being said by the Element Users, but Amichi soon joined them in the tree, watching the other five in the clearing with fiery eyes.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked, looking at Amichi for answers.

The other shrugged, a snake that anyone could've sworn wasn't there a second ago curling around his shoulders. "They tell me 'be with others'," he recalled with obvious disgust. "They say they plan Elemental Attack."

"Elemental Attack…?" Hinata asked slowly.

Amichi shook his head. "It is secret. Be quiet now. Bigger ninja approach."

All 5 ninja turned their heads to the clearing again, only to see that they were completely surrounded. Naruto quickly made a note that it was quite strange that they hadn't come near where they were hiding. The other five in the clearing just stared in front of them, but Naruto could see that Kaiya was giggling.

Sakura elbowed Naruto in the side to get his attention. "Look," she whispered. "It's Kakashi-sensei!"

Turning back to the clearing, Naruto watched as Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai stepped out onto the field, kunai in both hands.

Shikamaru swore under his breath. He saw what they were doing. By bring out the jounin sensei, they stopped any of the ninja hiding in the trees to attack them. That was why they had avoided surrounding them. That would've been a waste of effort if they could immobilize them in the manner they had.

"Element Users of the Shinobi Lands," Kakashi said loud enough for everyone to hear. "By order of the Fire Country's feudal lord, as well as the lords from the surrounding areas, you are herby ordered to surrender yourselves and await execution, as well as-"

"Execution!?"

All eyes, including that of the jounin, were on Naruto, who had jumped out of his hiding place to point a finger at Kakashi.

"What the heck Naruto!" Sakura whisper-shouted. "We were supposed to stay hidden!"

Naruto ignored her. "Look here: I'm still trying to get my head around the fact that Sasuke is a million times older than me, and now you want to execute them? What've they done wrong?!"

"Uzumaki Naruto, you will _not_ become apart of this," Asuma glared at him. "And if you do, then we have orders to kill if necessary."

Only the observant Shikamaru could notice that the jounin's eyes were all dulled, as if in some sort of trance…

"Naruto, someone's used a controlling technique on them!" he shouted, and in doing so, revealed his location. "Usually, with one of those, if you knock the person out for long enough, it wears off!"

Naruto nodded and ran at the jounin sensei, creating multiple shadow clones in the process.

"Kaiya, now!"

Naruto could only just identify the voice as Kohaku's before he was picked up by a gust of wind and knocked back to his original spot. As he gathered his senses, several twisters ripped through the forest, picking up the jounin around their area. Amichi quickly glued everyone's feet to the trunk of a tree with stone to stop them from flying into the twister as well.

"Shinobi Lands Elemental Attack has commenced," he said softly to himself, where only Hinata could hear.

The other Element Users had spread out, as if they had practiced this a million times. From where he stood, Imara rubbed his hands together before slapping them on the ground below him. A giant hole in the ground opened up, as if it were sinking into the earth. Sota raised his hands, and water began to flood the hole, filling to the top in no time. It was then the twisters formed into one and entered the centre of the pool. Water rained down as the cyclone slowly came to a stop, creating a whirlpool and also trapping the captured jounin underneath the water.

Kohaku then jumped on top of the water, and as soon as his feet had touched the surface, the entire pool had become thick ice. Imara raised his hands up off of the ground, and the earth became level again, rising the block of ice along with it. Sasuke, his fists aflame, punched the air in front of him, sending blue fire-balls careening in the direction he had punched. The flames entered the ice, and melted through to the other side, missing some jounin by a hair - literally.

Naruto and gang just sat on the tree branch with open mouths. The Element Users were just standing around now, looking at each other confused.

"Kora's still missing…"

Understanding dawned on the group as Shikamaru explained the confusion.

"I'll ask you later how you know my name," an excited voice said behind them. "But watch this!"

A pale yellow flashed out from behind them, and before anyone had time to blink, a large and frightening lightning bolt crashed down on the ice block, sending pieces of ice flying in every direction. Each piece was separated by a jounin, meaning that the more experienced ninja were still trapped inside the ice, and yet blasted away from the area. Naruto had just enough time to see frozen Kakashi sail towards Konoha, his left eye uncovered to reveal the Sharingan. The blonde snickered.

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Ino had only enough time to dive into some conveniently-placed-bushes before an ice block rushed past him. Had she still been where she had been a second later, she would've continued along with the block until it stopped. Speaking of which…

"Sound off!" she yelled, stepping cautiously out from the greenery.

"Here!" Tsunade stepped out from the conveniently-placed-bushes on the other side of the path, brushing herself off.

Kaori and Heruka simply reappeared, though Ino hadn't been paying close enough attention to see where they had hidden.

"Was there… a person inside that block…?" Tsunade asked attentively.

Kaori nodded. "The jounin had to be taken care of..."

"…That's what an Element attack is used for," Heruka continued.

"There are at least three different versions of the same attack…"

"…Each used for a different amount of enemies."

"Will my jounin be returned to me at least?" the Hokage asked sternly, giving the Element Users of Mist and Snow a glare. She didn't particularly trust them.

Both shrugged at the same time. "Depends…"

Tsunade and Ino looked at each other, sharing a thought.

"Depends on what…?" Ino asked slowly.

The twins shrugged again. "Depends on the mood of each of the attackers of an Elemental Attack," They said in unison. "Usually an attack of that proportion would send all of the jounin scattered across the country and beyond, and it could take a while for the ice to thaw. We are in the desert though so…"

Tsunade gave an exasperated sigh before stomping off in the direction the ice had come from. Ino quickly followed, not bothering to see if Kaori and Heruka were following.

"Now that the jounin are taken care of, we can go on our own, right?" Ino whispered to the older women. She merely shrugged in response.

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"So, how did you get away from the Raikage?" Kohaku asked Kora.

She gave a sigh, aware that everyone's eyes were upon her, even those of the Konoha shinobi. It was odd. They weren't really suppose to be apart of their mission, but Sasuke had ended up bringing them along anyway. Figured.

"I… I don't really remember," she stammered truthfully. "But I do remember a red haired man telling me where you guys were, so I came here."

"Shinzaburo Toshiro?" Sakura gasped.

Kora shrugged. "I don't know his name. He kind of just appeared out of no where and knocked out the Raikage. That's as much as I can remember. Sorry…"

Lee closed his eyes before opening them and shaking his head. "He is not here. I am not certain as to when he left us however."

"You said he appeared, right?" Naruto confirmed. Kora nodded.

Hinata made a couple hand signs before activating the Byakugan and searching the immediate area for a trace of anyone. Finding none, she deactivated her bloodline and shook her head at Naruto.

"Either they're t-too far away or h-he's gone into hiding again," she said.

Sasuke eyed Kora curiously before appearing behind her with a kunai to her throat. She squeaked and stared at him frightfully, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Sasuke, what the heck are you doing?!" Imara shouted, launching himself at the other boy.

"She's lying," Sasuke said simply, stopping Imara in his tracks. "She's still under the Raikage's influence, and is leading her straight to us."

As if on cue, there was an explosion of ninja from the trees, completely surrounding the group. Naruto counted at least twenty of them, forming a tight circle of inescapability.

Sota swore under his breath, and Kaiya muttered something about being sorry about missing some of them. Shikamaru, ever the cleaver one, knew exactly what was going on.

"These ones were separated from the rest of the jounin," he explained softly. "Have you guys used an attack like that before?"

Kaiya stared at him. "Well duh, but I wouldn't have thought there'd be records of it anywhere."

"Well then how do you explain how the Raikage knew about it?"

"I told her," Kora said, choking back tears. "It wasn't my fault though! She used some sort of technique! And I-"

Sasuke hit her on the back of the neck, promptly cutting her off and knocking her out. Imara caught her as she began to fall forwards, glaring at Sasuke all the while.

"Why'd you do that!" he shouted, unaware of the presence approaching him from behind. "She was explaining herself. Maybe we could've learnt more about the Raikage…"

"If you have any questions for me, you know you could always ask me," the old woman said smoothly, smirking.

She didn't look the same. It took the group a while to see that her features weren't the same as they were before. Where she used to have wrinkles, there was now smooth skin, her grey hair had grown longer and turned a dull violet colour. Her crooked teeth showed when she smiled, and seemed very out of place in her seemingly new look.

"Where's T-Toshiro-san?" Hinata demanded, activating her Byakugan for effect.

The woman's smirk widened, showing more ugly teeth. "Oh, you mean the red haired man? He was getting in my way, so he was… disposed of, so to say…"

Without thinking, Naruto and Lee launched themselves at the Raikage, only to be flung back against trees moments later.

"Pathetic," the Kage stated, looking around her. "I would've expected more from Konoha shinobi. Ah well… I guess it can't be helped."

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Naruto opened his eyes and blinked a few times before he realized he wasn't in the same place he had been a few seconds ago. Or what felt like a few seconds ago. Come to think of it, he didn't recall closing his eyes in the first place. His eyes had been accustom to the bright light kind-of-a-few-seconds-ago, so it took a while for him to adjust to the darkness that now surrounded him.

There was defiantly a cool breeze around him, but he couldn't quite place it. It blew continuously, never stopping even for a moment.

"Oh, so you're awake young one," a cheerful voice said from beneath him.

It was then that Naruto's vision came back completely. Above him were the stars of the night, and a few clouds here and there. He sat up and almost fell over, looking down to see red everywhere.

"_Blood…_?" he thought dully, checking his hands for the liquid.

The thing underneath him chuckled. "I feel silly for asking, but your name is Uzumaki Naruto, right?"

Now he recognized the voice. "Momoiro? The dragon?"

"Yay! You remember me!"

To show her appreciation, the red and white dragon did a back flip, earning a scream from Hinata.

"Oops… sorry…"

Naruto crawled over to the Hyuuga girl and held her tight, calming her down. Momoiro's back seemed a lot bigger than the last time he had flown on her.

"Naruto, you're a-awake," Hinata realized suddenly. "I've been awake for awhile now, but you were still unconscious."

Naruto nodded. "What happened anyway?"

"I… I don't know…" she admitted. "I d-don't even remember getting l-light headed or anything. I-I was just suddenly here…"

"Hang on tight! We're going to land!" came Momoiro's cheerful voice, and she started a steep decent.

"_Hand onto what, you're scales?_" Naruto thought sarcastically.

They saw a flash of red and blue on their right, as well as a blue and yellow flash on their left. As the three dragons landed, seven ninja all jumped off their backs and almost crashed into each other simultaneously. It was a lot darker on the ground than it had been in the air.

"Sound off!" came a stern voice of a woman. "Tsunade."

"Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hyuuga H-Hinata."

"Haruno Sakura."

"Rock Lee."

"Nara Shikamaru."

"Yamanaka Ino."

When all was silent and there was no one else sounding off, all seven Konoha shinobi breathed sighs of relief.

"Does anyone have any idea how we got in the air?" Lee asked curiously.

"On the backs of dragons no less…" Shikamaru mumbled.

"I don't know. I just woke up and I was in the air," Naruto explained.

"Same here," Sakura confirmed.

"I think that happened to all of us," Ino said nervously. "I don't remember anything after ditching Heruka and Kaori…"

"You d-ditched them?" Hinata squeaked.

"They were merely escorts, in case more jounin popped up," Tsunade explained. "Since they all got trapped in blocks of ice, they didn't need to escort us anymore."

"But you _ditched_ them?!" Shikamaru exclaimed. "Of all things to do, you _ditched_ them?!"

"Not really ditching," Ino assured. "We just kind of started walking, and they weren't following us, so…"

"Come to think of it, where _is_ everyone?" Sakura asked.

"Well, since Murasaki, Momoiro, and Hisuiiro are Sasuke's dragons-" Lee began thoughtfully.

"Wait, Sasuke has dragons?!" Shikamaru asked.

"You do realized that we are all still here, do you not?" came Murasaki's deep voice, starling everyone. "And we do not belong to Sasuke-sama. He merely asked us to fly you here and to wait here with you."

"Then, where is he?" Naruto asked, slightly annoyed.

The great red and blue dragon flicked his tail in the general direction of which they had come. Off in the distance, where the oasis was, it appeared as if all hecks had broken loose. Thunderclouds rained lightning on the trees, igniting them in orange flames. Those flames contrasted to the blue flames already surrounding the base of many of them. What remaining trees there were had been ripped out of the ground by many huge cyclones, all of which had slowly been moving away from the oasis. A sudden out of place tidal wave struck the sand, putting out the orange flames by not affecting the blue ones. The seven ninja stared at the far off scene.

"And we came from _there_?" Ino asked disbelievingly.

"Momoiro-san, d-do you know why Sasuke asked you t-to bring us here and w-what's going on in the oasis?" Hinata asked politely of the red and white dragon. It was probably the longest sentence she had uttered all week.

Momoiro looked up at the sky, as if the answer was there for her to read. "Not really. He just asked us to come, and we did. But you guys were already unconscious when we got there… sorry."

"Th-that's fine, I was just w-wondering," Hinata said with a smile.

"But that still doesn't answer why we were knocked out in the first place," Tsunade said, sounding irritated. "And Ino and I weren't even with you guys before!"

"When we got to you, all of you were together though…" Momoiro stated thoughtfully.

Everyone's heads jerked up as an explosion rocked the air. All heads turned to the oasis. It wasn't there. Before anyone had a chance to scream or anything, there was a cheerful call from above, and Kaiya bounced down from Tori.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," she apologise, bowing.

"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto immediately demanded.

"Keeping Imara from killing himself," she said casually. "Anyway, Godaime Hokage Tsunade, the Raikage's kind of in a bad mood, so you should get back to Konoha pretty quick."

Tsunade glared at her. "What have you done?"

Kaiya shrugged. "She's just a grumpy old lady. Anyway, I know this is sort of sudden and Sasuke should really be doing this instead of me, but I'm going to have to ask you guys to decide now."

"Decide what?" Lee asked.

"Decide whether or not you wish to go back to Konoha, or if you wish to come with us."

The shinobi looked at one another, their eyes finally accustom to the dark.

"Well, I'm going back," Tsunade said grumpily, crossing her arms. "I _have_ to go back."

"I-I think I'll go…" Hinata stuttered, blushing as all heads turned towards her. "I mean, I-I didn't exactly w-want to be a ninja i-in the first place, and Hanabi wants to… to be the heiress than I do…"

"And I said I'd go where you go," Naruto added cheerfully.

"But that means you will have to give up on trying to become Hokage, right?" Lee asked wide-eyed.

Naruto shrugged. "Hinata comes before my needs. Plain and simple."

Sakura thought about it. "I'll go too. If Naruto is willing to give up being Hokage, then it's really important to him."

"There is no point returning to Konoha if Gai-sensei will not be there," Lee said sombrely.

"Well, my parents still need me at the flower shop," Ino said, sighing. "What about you Shikamaru?"

"Too troublesome to move," he said lazily, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Well, that settles it!" Kaiya said cheerfully, clapping her hands together. "Hisuiiro can probably give you a lift back to Konoha. Say your goodbyes, and I'll be right back."

And with that, she jumped up and onto Tori again and was gone in an instant. Tsunade turned to glare at Sakura.

"You're really leaving?" she asked, sounding hurt. "What about your parents?"

Sakura winced. "They had said I could move out when I wanted to. And I'll keep in touch… somehow…"

"And Hinata, your father's not going to be happy to hear this," the Hokage continued.

Hinata smiled weakly. "H-he might be, you n-never know."

Tsunade sighed. "Well, I know there's no point in trying to get you two to come back," she said, motioning to Naruto and Lee. They shook their heads and grinned for effect. "In that case, I wish you all a safe journey, and I was glad to have had the chance in meeting you all."

Naruto blinked. That was it? She was just going to let them off? Without even any kind of yelling or shouting? He looked her in the eye, and there he saw his answer. She trusted them. And not like she trusted Shizune. It was a kind of trust that someone put in their family. He suddenly understood the hurt she would go through after they were gone. He walked over to her and took out his necklace, the one she had given him so many years ago.

"And just so you know, I'm keeping this," he said, pointing to the necklace and grinning. Tsunade smiled back at him.

Before anyone had a chance to say anything more, Hisuiiro had grabbed Ino, Shikamaru and Tsunade and was high above the other four.

"Sakura!" Ino shouted with her hands cupped into a megaphone. "I'll be sure to send you your bonsai cherry tree from your house!"

Sakura waved goodbye and hoped her mother had watered the poor plant in Sakura's place. She'd never hear the end of it from Ino if she hadn't.

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"So, where are we going now?" Naruto asked, holding onto Momoiro's mane to keep himself from falling off.

"To the Island-That-Has-Yet-to-Be-Made," Sota answered from beside Kohaku. "But I guess that doesn't help much, does it?"

Naruto shook his head as an answer. "If Imara's the Element User of Earth, does that mean he can make the island?" he asked innocently.

He risked a glance at Imara. The boy was literally strapped down to a white bird who had introduced herself as Shiraha. The little mole, Kiri, was sleeping on his stomach, pretty much oblivious to the events around it. From what Naruto could pick up from their argument, Kora had gone totally insane when she woke up and attacked the group. The others had tried to take the Raikage out, thinking it would undo the technique, but even with Sasuke, they had no chance against a very pissed Kage. Kohaku had given the okay, and Sasuke had taken out Kora. That's when the explosion had occurred, and the Raikage disappeared. It sounded as if Imara had blamed Sasuke for Kora's death, and had already tried to kill him and himself three times in the passed hour, hence the reason he was strapped down.

After a short silence, Kohaku spoke up, saying, "He's not going to answer you. He told us a little while ago he wasn't going to talk to us anymore." Shive jumped over to Shiraha and poked Imara just to prove it.

"That's rather childish…" Sakura thought out loud, earning a glare from the dark skinned boy. "Well it is."

"And yet youthful nevertheless!" Lee pitched in, punching the air above him and almost knocking Sakura off of Murasaki.

"You're half right though, Naruto," Kaiya said gently from where she sat on Tori in her monster form. "Technically, an island is formed either by breaking off of the mainland or from underwater volcanoes. Our original plan had Sota pushing the water away so we could work, and Imara and Sasuke working together to form the magma. But now…"

"That's not going to happen in a million years," Sasuke finished, taking his hands off of Draco's horns to cross his arms.

"S-so what're going to do now?" Hinata asked, clutching to Naruto to keep herself from falling down into the water below them.

"We have our ways," Kaiya said playfully, a glint of mischievousness in her eyes.

"Stop here," Kohaku ordered, bringing his snowflake to a halt. Shive took that moment to jump back onto his shoulder.

The others obeyed and came to a stop in the air, the dragon's wings beating becoming the only sound. Cautiously, Kaiya undid Imara's bindings, just as Sasuke jumped off of Draco and sky-dove downwards. The other boy jumped after him, falling faster than Sasuke. Draco returned to his normal form and grabbed Kiri before he fell and quietly placed him on Shiraha. It was hard to tell from where they were in the air, but it seemed as if Sasuke and Imara had hit the water at the same time.

"Is this smart?" Sakura asked after they didn't reappear in the time period of five minutes.

"Well, even if it wasn't, it's too late to change plans now," Sota said truthfully, shrugging.

A sudden bubbling frenzy erupted from the water - literally. After a couple more minutes of bubbling, a small piece of land emerged, later followed by more and more land.

"Wha…?" Lee started.

"I told you. We have our ways," Kaiya said sneakily. "And it helps that Sasuke has the Sharingan," she added a bit quicker.

After a few more minutes, there was enough earth to land on. Seeing as there was a huge volcano in the centre still spilling molten lava everywhere, they thought it'd be safer in the air. They were only human beings however, and soon the boredom had to be busted.

"Say, where'd Amichi go?" Sakura asked, eyes skyward. "He was with us before we woke up… Hey, why were we unconscious anyway?"

"Well, Amichi is the leader of the Samurai Lands group, just as I'm the leader of the Shinobi Lands group," Kohaku explained. "His group had other plans and missions to complete. So he left when he woke up. As soon as we're done here, our entire mission is complete as well."

"You left out the most exciting part," Naruto said sarcastically. "_Why were we unconscious?_ And when did that happen?"

Sota pointed at Kaiya. "She did it!"

"What? I did not!" Kaiya shot back at him, her glare wasted on his laughing fit.

"None of us did it," Kohaku explained yet again, bopping Sota on the head. "It was the Raikage. She released some messed up technique that knocks anyone in the technique's range out."

"Sasuke managed to see it a couple seconds before she actually preformed it," Kaiya said. "You know, with the Sharingan."

"But he only had time to get a barrier around the people closer to him at the time," Sota put in, clearly done laughing. "At that time, you guys were standing away from Kora, while we were closer, resulting in Sasuke being closer and us getting shielded while you guys weren't."

"You should stop trying to sound smart: it's not working very well," Naruto grinned. He was completely soaked in water a few moments later.

"I got Tori and Shiraha to search the oasis for others who were knocked out," Kaiya said, patting Tori's feathers.

"I guess that explains why Ino and Tsunade-sama were also with us…" Sakura said thoughtfully.

It took a moment for the group to realize it, but the noise from the volcano had stopped. Looking down, the volcano had stopped erupting, and the land stretched far into the distance. Hesitantly, the dragons landed with the Element Users behind them. Sasuke stood in front of them with one foot on top of Imara, who was back to being tied up.

"Well I say that worked rather well," Sota commented, grinning.

"You tricked me!" Imara shouted, wriggling a bit.

Hinata giggled and soon everyone was laughing. Even Sasuke let out a little chuckle.

"Fine," Imara pouted. "But then I get to name this place."

"I thought you weren't going to talk to us again," Naruto said. Beside him, Lee muttered something about that being very un-youthful.

The Element User of Earth ignored them both, screwing up his eyes in concentration. Sasuke allowed him to sit up, and he looked first at the volcano, and then at the ground below him.

"I name this land, _Honshu_," he said confidently. "And that mountain is _Mount Fuji_."

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.

"That works."

* * *

The end! Well... if you don't include the epilogue that I'm going to upload when I feel like it...

Thanks for sticking with me and my horrible writing skills!


	28. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

"After the island was named _Honshu_ and the great volcano that had brought about the island named _Mount Fuji_, the group had set to work creating a village to call their own. Seeds were planted, crops grown, and time moved on.

"Once a year, the nine inhabitants would rise into the air, and let Mount Fuji spill lava once more, having their crops and most of the vegetation protected of course. This created more land, and a larger area in which future generations would use.

"As for keeping in touch with the ninja of Konoha, the Element User of Wind, Tomenaki Kaiya, had trained a few birds of the pigeon species to fly back and for with letters and packages. Future military would later use this method of communication. The pigeons that she used were much larger than the variety you see in our time, and I wouldn't recommend attaching letters to their legs.

"The Element User of Earth, Tsumiga Imara, still held a grudge on the Element User of Fire, Uchiha Sasuke, and in later years, their quarrelling resumed. Cleaver Sasuke, however, turned this against Imara and created more islands, four of the most notable ones being _Hokkaido_, _Kyushu_, _Shikoku_, and _Okinawa_. There were thousands more, as Imara soon turned it into a game to be preformed every two months. To this day, many live on the islands of his mischief.

"As with all human beings, the nine original inhabitants, aside from the Element Users being named Naruto, Sakura, Hinata and Lee, eventually died and left it to their children and their children's children to live on..."

As the teacher finished her lecture, she put down her book and took off her glasses. Looking at the clock on the wall, she was startled to see it was so early. She had thought that she would be interrupted, so she had ended up finishing early since no one had interrupted. Which was odd.

"Are there any questions?" she asked her class, and a few hands shot up. "Yes?"

A girl with unnaturally light red hair lowered her hand. The red bow she wore in her hair only added to the odd colour of her hair. Quite a few people were certain she bleached it. Her green eyes shone with curiosity, almost too much for the ten year old she was.

"Did the Element Users reincarnation cycle still continue after they settled on the island?" she asked, and two other hands lowered, as she had asked the same question they had.

The teacher put her glasses back on and leafed through the pages of the book. "Some say it did, while others say they didn't. There are even versions where the normal-borns, due to spending so much time around the Element Users, also formed their own reincarnation cycle, except without their memories and the Element Users had. Does that answer your question Sakiko? (1)"

Sakiko nodded her head and slumped in her seat, returning to her drawing she had been working on during the lecture. Another person raised their hand.

"Go ahead Isao (2)," the teacher said.

The boy, Isao, had his eyes wide, a lot wider than the average person. He always kept his and straight as possible, and it was always shinning. There was a rumour he was in a class younger than his age level.

"How long ago that story was made, sensei?" he asked eagerly.

The teacher shook her head. "There's no set date, but it has been passed down through the generations as the creation of our country."

"Then if it's true, the scientists would just have to take a sample of Mount Fuji and see how old it is, wouldn't they?" a boy on the other side of the room called out, his blonde hair making him painfully obvious.

"You have to put up your hand to ask a question Akihiko (3)," the teacher snapped. Her expression softened when she saw the hurt on his face. "But you are right. The only thing is, there's no real proof the legend is real, and the Shinto legend as to how our land was made is more popular."

Akihiko nodded and put his head on his desk, closing his blue eyes and planning on taking a nap. After a few more questions that he found pointless, his ears perked when the girl directly across from him spoke. She hardly ever spoke.

"If the Element Users reincarnation cycle were to continue, how much longer until they would be reborn?" her voice was quiet, and the whole class had been forced to become dead silent in order to hear her.

The teacher was about to answer when the bell rang, and the entire class erupted with noise. The teacher motioned for her to come to her, and Akihiko helped her up and lead her to the teacher.

"As I said to Iaso, we don't know how long ago the legend is placed," she explained to the girl. "If we did know however, then we might be able to calculate the time length. Okay?"

She nodded and bowed. "Thank you for the lesson sensei," she said quietly.

"You're quite welcome Shizuko (4). You and Akihiko can go get some lunch now."

Shizuko nodded, and Akihiko lead her to the door. He kind of liked escorting her, even if she was blind. He'd seen her eyes once, and they were so pale, they were almost white. He tired to imagine them as a lavender colour though, for her sake. On their way out the door, Akihiko couldn't help but hear Sakiko's loud voice.

"I'll be there in a minute!" she shouted to her friend waiting at the door.

She wandered through the desks until she got to the person she wanted to see.

"Hey Kouji!" She said brightly.

Kouji looked up from the papers he was organising, his dark eyes almost filling the entire eye space. He looked quickly down again when he saw who had spoken, navy hair getting in his eyes. Sakiko giggled.

"I wanted you to see the picture I drew during the lecture," she said, holding up a drawing.

He looked at it reluctantly, and began staring. There was a pink haired girl, wearing red and with some sort of band holding her hair up. She was riding atop a large dragon that had red on its top half, while blue dominated the lower half. Behind her on the dragon, there was a boy in green that looked oddly like Isao. He had a red band around his waist.

On the other side of the page, there was another dragon, this one also had red on its top, while there was white on the bottom. Riding on this dragon was someone dressed in orange that looked like Akihiko, and behind him, clad in white, was a girl that looked like Shizuko, only her eyes were open to let the world see the pretty lavender colour they were.

Although it was rather poorly drawn, the people still stood out noticeably. "You got all that from the lecture?" he forced he voice to work.

She nodded proudly. "It didn't describe what anyone looked like. So I started drawing what I thought the normal-borns looked like. I think my mind based it off of our class though…"

Kouji nodded, forcing an idea out of his head. He went back to organising his papers, but dropped them abruptly when Sakiko gasped.

"I just realized!" she exclaimed excitedly. "The Element User of Fire's surname was Uchiha, right?"

The boy was forced to nod in agreement, knowing where this was going.

"And so is yours!" she finished. "Maybe you're related. That'd be soooo cool!"

Kouji smiled, startling Sakiko. "Well, your surname is Haruno." He said pointedly.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she asked, puzzled.

Kouji chuckled. "You have _**no**_ idea…"

* * *

I personally hate it when someone says something in their story that I don't understand. That's the only reason I do footnotes

(1) - Sakiko - name meaning 'blossoming child'

(2) - Isao - name meaning 'honour' or 'merit'

(3) - Akihiko - male name meaning 'bright/shining prince'

(4) - Shizuko - name meaning 'quiet child'

(5) - Kouji - male name meaning 'happy second son'

Tried to pick names that suited them, but I just like the name Kouji, and it happened to fit (minus the happy part...)

* * *

Officially done! Thanks for your support!


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